Tumwater is suing the owner of the former Olympia Brewing Co. property, alleging the historic site has become so dangerous that police officers can no longer enter its buildings.
The city filed the lawsuit Friday, Sept. 18, in Thurston County Superior Court against Tumwater Development LLC, first reported by The Olympian. The suit seeks at least $550,000 in unpaid civil penalties.
The court filing describes a property overrun by crime and decay. Since 2018, the Tumwater Police Department has received more than 300 calls to 911 for incidents at the site, including burglaries, assaults, vandalism, thefts, sexual assaults and trespassing, according to the lawsuit. Officers are now barred from entering the structures during routine calls because of deteriorating conditions.
The buildings have no active lighting, holes in the floors, unsecure ceilings, asbestos contamination, unstable flooring, exposed electrical wiring and broken glass, the filing states. City fire personnel face similar hazards. The city argued in its filing that the property poses a danger to anyone who enters.
If the court does not award the $550,000, the city is asking a judge to order the owner to fix the problems at its own expense.
Years of failed agreements
Tumwater Development LLC, led by Chandulal Patel, acquired parcels of the 175-acre former brewery site south of Custer Avenue. The city's official brewery history dates that sale to 2015, though the lawsuit references 2016.
The city and Tumwater Development have negotiated voluntary correction agreements over the years and imposed fines for unfinished work, but the lawsuit alleges nothing changed.
The property has a troubled recent history. A fire on Oct. 7, 2018, heavily damaged the complex, requiring a three-alarm response from multiple departments. City officials argued in the lawsuit that trespassers caused the fire after entering because Tumwater Development failed to secure the site.
In 2019, oil leaked from a transformer on the property into the Deschutes River and Capitol Lake. The Washington State Department of Ecology initially billed Tumwater Development $11.37 million. A settlement reduced that to $2.3 million.
Owner pushes back
Patel told The Olympian he spends between $40,000 and $45,000 per month on the former brewery, covering security, insurance, property taxes and utilities. His original plans for the site included a boutique hotel, condos and warehouse development.
"We would love to work with the city and city officials, but come with a plan instead of a court action against me," Patel said.
Patel also accused the city of moving too slowly on an environmental assessment of the property, made possible by a $500,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant announced in 2023. That investigation began in 2024, according to the city's history page. The city also started work in 2025 on a Planned Action Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the brewery district.
Tumwater spokesman Jason Wettstein told The Olympian the city prefers cooperation but will enforce its codes and expects visible progress toward a better outcome for the community.
No hearing date has been set.
