Originally published Saturday, November 9, 1996

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Federal Way is hoping new higher-paying, white-collar jobs will also help it create a more coherent and vibrant city center, perhaps like Bellevue, that has shopping, housing and office towers.

It already has had some luck attracting employers such as World Vision, a nondenominational Christian organization, and USAA, a nationwide insurance company.

The former Federal Way Shopping Center on Highway 99 was once a candidate for developing a civic center. But the land was bought for the city's newest mall -- Pavilions Center.

Celia Bender, who manages the Barnes & Noble Bookstore there, says Federal Way is searching for its own identity.

It's still "a big town, not a little city," she says.

Federal Way's outlook on life does have a conservative streak. Religious books, Bender notes, are big sellers here, while gay pride month "was not huge."

"We had a representation of (gay book) titles, but we did not make a big to-do. Some people were offended that we had acknowledged it at all."

When Pavilions Center went in, the city looked elsewhere for a downtown site. The area surrounding SeaTac Mall, between Interstate 5 and Highway 99, became the likely choice for a core of condominiums, businesses and cultural attractions.

Joann Piquette, a board member of the Federal Way Coalition of the Performing Arts, thinks the location might be a great place for a performance center.

"It is very important for any city to have a place not only to celebrate the local arts community but to have outside shows and lectures. We just can't do that. We have to go outside Federal Way to get any cultural entertainment," Piquette says.

The city's nine major performing arts groups are still quite successful despite the lack of an adequate hall. They perform in high school cafeterias and rented halls in Auburn and Highline.