Building History

According to a contemporary article in the Seattle Times about the decision to build this new research center, Seattle would now be an attractive option for new high-tech businesses seeking to expand in the 1960s: "The Boeing Co.'s decision to build a space-research-and-development center costing at least $15 million at Kent was hailed jubilantly today at state, regional and community levels. 'Boeing's loss of the TFX-plane and Dyna-Soar space contracts was all but forgotten in the elation over Boeing;s newest expansion in this area. It broadens still further research capacity in this area,' Robert E. Rose, director of the State Department of Commerce and Economic Development at Olympia, said." (See "Boeing Expansion to Kent Is Hailed," Seattle Times, 02/05/1964, p. 7.) The creation of this Boeing space research center came at the time that Seattle was wooing the Battelle Memorial Institute, another significant think-tank, that was contemplating expansion on the West Coast. The combination of Boeing's decision to build a new R & D complex and Battelle's impending entry into the area encouraged business leaders about Puget Sound's ability to compete economically with more established regions nationwide.

PCAD id: 21677