BY PEPPER FISHER
Port Angeles – The North Olympic History Center is putting up for sale the acre of grass in front of the Lincoln School building on 8th Street in Port Angeles. The asking price is $600,000.
Executive Director David Brownell, appearing on the Todd Ortloff Show, said the demolition of the 110-year-old school building will be paid for with the proceeds of the sale, and the History Center will continue to own and occupy the adjacent property.
Brownell says they’re hoping to find a new owner that will share their vision for the north lawn’s development.
“We’re really aiming to try and find a developer who’s a good fit for the community, a good fit for us, because, you know, we’re going to be neighbors with whatever goes up there. And what we’re really, ideally trying to find is somebody who will do some sort of mixed use, you know, have maybe commercial retail on the first floor, it doesn’t have to be that, and then some housing above it, and trying to get some more housing there on the corner, as well.”
The History Center will retain ownership of the land that the 12,000 square foot building sits on after demolition. Brownell was asked what the plan is for that portion of the property once the building is gone.
“Short term is, where the school building is now, that’ll be sort of graded and gravelled, and it’ll be an empty gravel parking lot, essentially, for at least a couple years. We’re going to fence it and we’ll have it secure. The eventual goal, and the reason why we want to save the land that the school building is currently on, is that gives us the potential to expand. For those who have come to visit the History Center, you’ve seen that, in our terms of storage space, we’re literally up to our ears…” “It’s pretty tight.” “We’re very tight. And so, you know, we’re actively working on a couple different projects that will open up a little bit of space, but we’re definitely at that point as an organization where, you know, we have to look to the future.”
Brownell said with the recent approval by the City of their short plat application, the plan is to have the north lawn officially listed by the end of the year.