Parts of vacant Tacoma school campus that irked neighbors finally are being demolished
Demolition of parts of the Gault Middle School campus in Tacoma started Wednesday after more than a decade of neighborhood complaints about the vacated school.
Tacoma Public Schools plans to begin soliciting proposals from potential buyers next week, according to a statement.
The 7.3-acre property includes six buildings, a swimming pool and an open field.
The school district will demolish the science building, gym, pool building and portable classrooms over the coming weeks but leave the original 1926 structure. It will cost the district $220,000 to tear down the gym, science building and storage shed, TPS spokesperson Alicia Lawver said.
The district has yet to award a contract for pool and portable classrooms removal, so total costs have not been determined. Current demolition work is expected to be completed by June, she said.
On April 18, TPS will open a bid for potential buyers to submit development proposals of the campus. Plans for the Eastside school must include the original Gault building, the district statement said.
“None of the Gault property is on any historic registers, but the 1926-era building is considered to have some historic attributes and requires additional City of Tacoma reviews before a demolition permit can be approved,” the district statement said.
If no viable proposals are received or accepted by May 18, the district will demolish the original building and re-purpose the site. Any viable proposals will go through a public comment process before being considered by the school board, Lawver said.
“We hope that a development proposal comes in that manages to both restore the Gault main building and bring positive use back to the former middle school campus,” she said in an email. “If that doesn’t happen, the school district remains committed to finding a solution for the site.”
Due to declining enrollment, Gault closed at the end of the 2008-2009 school year as part of a school merger. Students from Gault and McIlvaigh formed First Creek Middle School. Since then, Gault has been vacant. Metro Parks Tacoma opened the pool to the community until it was replaced by the Eastside Community Center facilities in fall 2018.
The building at 1115 E. Division Lane became a point of contention for the community during its vacancy.
Neighbors told The News Tribune the empty building attracted vandalism, litter and property damage. Between 2014 and 2021, there were 24 recorded complaints to the city’s 311 line that noted “Gault.” Those complaints included reports of homeless encampments and requests for outreach or someone camping on public property.
In November 2020, an activist group called Tacoma Housing Now took over the building. People experiencing homelessness moved into the school for about a day before police threatened arrests.
The Tacoma Housing Authority considered developing the campus into low-income housing, but plans ultimately fell through due to cost. The housing authority estimated demolition costs would exceed $3 million, and the agency did not have those funds after unexpected, increased expenses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
