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THE OLD HEAT BUILDING 3. Adaptive Reuse of State Resources The project revitalizes a historic public building. Instead of constructing Old Heat:A Multiplicative Enterprise for Regional Economic Development new facilities, Old Heat transforms an underused structure into a hub for innovation, training, and business development. It stands as a visible The Old Heat project involves re-purposing the facility to bridge the under- example of cross-regional collaboration that yields measurable economic leveraged capabilities of the Central Washington region to the needs and returns and expands access to opportunities for Washingtonians often left opportunities of the larger WA state economic ecosystem. In this respect, the out of the innovation economy. facility and the activity related to it serve as a funnel for high-value industry to successfully integrate their supply chain activity into regional resources and 4. Model for Statewide Replication of Strategic East—West Alignment capabilities. It also serves as an on-ramp for local industry and entrepreneurship The Old Heat project demonstrates how rural communities can convert to be competitive in national and international markets through activities such as legacy infrastructure into competitive, innovation-driven economies. By competitive technology integration, university resource collaboration, and supply strengthening Central Washington's connections to statewide manufacturing chain support. and technology supply chains, it makes the entire Washington economy more resilient and competitive. Old Heat provides a replicable model To guide this work, Old Heat is organized around four core objectives that define showing how rural and urban regions can function as one integrated system its purpose and ensure that every investment, tenant, and partnership advances by sharing talent, technology, and opportunity across the state. long-term prosperity for both the region and the state. Together, these four objectives establish the foundation for Old Heat's design OLD HEAT: MAIN OBJECTIVES and operations. Each translates directly into measurable actions that attract high-value industries, build local capacity, and ensure that technology, wages, 1. High-Wage Job Creation and Rural Economic Mobility and opportunity flow across regions rather than concentrate in one. The project Old Heat converts state investment into high-paying and technology- is intentionally structured to serve as an "accelerator of accelerators," both based jobs in areas such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, ag-tech, through the programs it houses and through the broader regional innovation and and clean energy. It equips residents with technical skills that align with development initiatives it supports. Washington's innovation economy, helping rural communities participate in high-wage sectors that typically cluster in metro areas. This approach This approach is already gaining external validation. The National Science expands opportunity across the state without expanding urban sprawl. Foundation has funded Central Washington University to increase institutional and regional capacity for advanced technology and workforce development, a 2. Technology Commercialization and Statewide Tech Diffusion mission that aligns directly with Old Heat's purpose. The model guiding this effort, Through the activities of Central Washington University(CWU), Old Heat described in the following section, focuses on nurturing the dynamic agency of connects state research capacity to regional industry, commercializing the region's communities as the true engine of long-term competitiveness. technologies and spreading innovation beyond metro centers. By linking Central Washington to the state's major innovation hubs, it strengthens the Rethinking Economic Development in Distressed Regions overall Washington ecosystem, ensuring that breakthroughs developed in In regions such as Central Washington, economic development has often been one region create jobs and value across all regions. constrained by immediate challenges, such as limited housing, labor market mismatches, and underfunded infrastructure, which consume much of the attention and capacity of local decision-makers. This dynamic prevents long- Old Heat CERB Feasibility Study 127