On the heels of celebrating 60 years of racing, Kent’s Pacific Raceways officially broke ground on its extensive expansion plans which begins with the $25M buildout of the Pacific Innovation Center (PIC) and Pacific Motorsports Park (PMP).
The Pacific Innovation Center is one of four “Projects of Statewide Significance” designated by the Department of Commerce.
Construction on the five initial buildings will total 200,000 square feet and will be used as garage/shop, business, innovation center and retail space. Racers, retail, enthusiasts and technology development companies can utilize prototype manufacturing, storage and workspace for their core purposes while being located steps away from the track. Miles Resources began the groundwork in 2019. Already 75% of the space in the first two buildings (60,000sf) has already been pre-leased by Milt Reimers of CBRE.
Poe Construction has been tapped to build both the Pacific Innovation Center and the Motorsports Park. Pacific Raceways has been owned and operated by the Fiorito family since 1959, and the track expansion project has been in the ideation phase for nearly twenty years.
The groundbreaking event was held this week at Pacific Raceways, and was attended by over 100 guests, including elected officials, representatives, sponsors and fans who showed their enthusiasm for the transformative addition of the Pacific Innovation Center and Motorsports Park to the Raceway located in Kent.
“We are going to continue to be a racetrack, and now this transition redefines the infrastructure to include a test bed for transportation industry innovation and that solidifies the sustainability of racing in our region,” Pacific Raceways president Jason Fiorito (pictured below) said.
In the keynote, Fiorito also acknowledged the previous generations of the Fiorito family for their unwavering commitment to the sport, the track and the racing community, and expressed gratitude to the elected officials, many in attendance, for their support of the project and the years of work to get to this point.
Next track partner Ron Erickson spoke of the importance of the designation and how the expansion will house innovative automotive companies, ambitious startups, and act as a hub for critical industry research for future automotive technologies.
Then King County Council Member Pete von Reichbauer brought the program to a close, applauding this project as an example of how King County and the cities of Auburn and Kent are bringing more living wage jobs to their communities.
Attendees also got to experience professional sports car track rides and individual kart racing circuit laps after lunch.
