PHOTOS BY ANDREA LARSEN

Pike Place Chowder serves up a hearty fall lunch to PTHA employees and other tribal members who came to check out the progress of the Elder’s Center Nov. 5.

Elders Center Update: Tribe watches as building foundation comes into focus

By Clare Jensen

As construction crews began the foundation work on the Elders Center, 150 tribal members and employees were present.

On Nov. 5, construction management and planning teams invited the entire staff of the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority (PTHA), as well as all construction workers and Tribal Employment Rights (TERO) staff, for a lunch on-site.

“We wanted to invite our neighbors out here…to see what’s happening and to say ‘sorry’” for all the inconvenience and noise, said project coordinator Deb Sharp.

Construction crews and machines have taken over much of the PTHA and treatment center’s usual parking lots, and the management team said they wanted to do something nice for their neighbors.

They also wanted to showcase the visible progress that is being made on the long-awaited Elders Center.

“I have never worked on a project that has been waited for for this long,” said Paul Swanson, project manager with BNBuilders. “Usually when you start work on a project it’s been two or three years in the making – not 20!”

Paul Swanson said when he found out his crew would be working on this particular project, he felt honored. “This is a revered project.”

PTHA staff, TERO workers, tribal members and crew were given a hearty fall meal as they watched bulldozers excavating the site to prep it for the building’s concrete

foundation. Guests were able to talk with the construction management team and architects about the building, and ask any questions they may have working so closely to the anticipated project.

Later that day, a final design meeting with architects, designers and tribal elders took place to iron out the details of interior design schemes. Tribal elders have been consistently involved in the planning portion of this project.

Above-ground structures should begin to be visible by early 2009, with the “green” roof installed on the building by spring.

Story Tools