By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – On the same day that we published an update on the North Olympic History Center’s decision to demolish the historical Lincoln School building on 8th Street in Port Angeles, City Manager Nathan West asked the City Council for authorization to pursue a proposal to convert the massive building into multi-family housing.
It’s an eleventh-hour proposition when you consider the process the History Center board has gone through since acquiring the facility in 1991. The plan has morphed from turning it into a museum, to selling the property, to trying to give it away to a serious developer, to November’s difficult decision to search for a contractor to tear it down in exchange for an adjacent piece of land. But West says this new proposal fits in perfectly with the City’s goal of creating new multi-family developments in Port Angeles.
“We’re hoping that there’s a confluence of interests here relative to housing and historic preservation that might work together. Considering this is one of our only historic buildings south of the downtown area, we think it’s worth every effort to explore the possibilities of protecting and preserving the building and simultaneously seeing an exploring whether there’s an option to obtain some housing at the same time.”
There’s no guarantee the NOHC will accept such a proposal, and we reached out to Executive Director David Brownell for comment on Wednesday, but had not heard back him by airtime.
Whether it’s a feasible project is still too early to say, but West said the conversation about turning the building into housing began in the fall, when the NHOC announced they would likely tear it down.
“And at this point, we recognize there’s a lot more that needs to go into a due diligence process relative to whether we actually want to consider purchasing the property from the History Center. And certainly, you know, currently it is a privately owned property, and we want to respect the North Olympic History Center’s property ownership. So, we don’t pretend that they have to accept anything that the City puts forward, but we do think it’s worthwhile to take the time, to take a closer look, and see if there’s an opportunity there.”
No one doubts we’re talking about a lot of money for a project like this. But the process would likely begin with hiring a consultant to evaluate the building and work on getting an estimate of what it would take to renovate it. The City already has $50,000 budgeted in the 2024-2029 Capital Facilities Plan that can help pay for that. As for the millions of dollars it would take to complete a project of this size, West says he has some potential sources in mind.
“So, there’s a number of housing-related funding opportunities out there. And I think, certainly, one of the investments this community has made is allowing for the one-tenth of one percent affordable housing Revenue that the city has undertaken as a result of proposition one that was passed by the public. So, that’s certainly a local option. But I think there’s a lot of other options, whether they might be historic preservation options, or housing options coming through as state opportunities, that will be heavily focused on.”
We’re sure there will be much more to come on this proposal, so stay tuned.