Historic school was saved from demolition. This fall it’ll open as a community center
Despite failing to meet a major fundraising goal in February, the Parkland Community Association has purchased the historic Parkland School, saving the 116-year-old building from demolition.
Association members told The News Tribune on Friday they got the keys from Pacific Lutheran University and signed the paperwork late Thursday. After some renovations, they plan to reopen the building as a community center this fall.
Prospective tenants are touring the space, which might soon be home to offices of a major local housing organization, youth and senior programming, recreational activities, veterans support services, food bank storage and more, said association member and Save Parkland School Project consultant Phil Edlund.
PLU has offered a two-year interest-free promissory note to the community association to purchase the building, which allowed the Parkland Community Association to access funding approved through the state capital budget to close the deal, Edlund said. The community association will need to raise $2.1 million in the next two years to pay PLU back, including $1.05 million by next April, he said.
Although the building is in pretty good shape, the roof will need to be replaced, and there will need to be an elevator installed, Edlund said. Inspections are happening now, and there will be new paint and carpet installed as well, he said.
“With any community group, it’s always a struggle,” Edlund said. “And it’s been a struggle to get the money that we needed to do this, but PLU was willing to work with us on it because of the community support that we’ve had.”
The group is accepting donations and organizing fundraisers with local businesses. Starting May 10, every Friday of the month Denny’s at 10802 Pacific Ave. South will donate 15% of its sales from 3-10 p.m. towards Parkland Community Association’s efforts to purchase the building and complete repairs.
School alumni and others have been vocal about wanting to save the school as a historic landmark to turn into a much-needed community space in the heart of Parkland. On 121st Street South, the two-story brick Parkland School is one of the oldest buildings in Parkland and began serving students in 1908, as previously reported by The News Tribune.
It operated as a public primary school for many decades until the Franklin Pierce School District shut down school operations in 1982 and leased the building to PLU, which later repurposed the space into college classrooms and bought the property in 1990. The university stopped holding classes there in 2014, and Mount Rainier Lutheran High School used the property for its operations until 2018 before relocating to Tacoma’s Eastside neighborhood. The building has been vacant since.
‘The commitment never wavered’
Over the past two years “it has been a long journey” to not only revive the once-dormant Parkland Community Association but to re-establish its nonprofit status, as well as organize and raise enough money to save the historic school from destruction, Edlund said.
Association volunteer Wendy Freeman said there were times when saving the school seemed impossible, but “then we’d just do it” and surpass hurdles. The effort came about when residents got word a developer was petitioning to tear the historic school down and wanted to stop it, she said.
“We were total strangers. We came together for common cause, is what happened,” she said. “We began to work on our projects and get to know each other’s idiosyncrasies, and we got more efficient in terms of how we work together. The commitment never wavered.”
In an area of Pierce County often deemed a “services desert,” Edlund said, “We feel we’re well-positioned right in the center of Parkland to be that community center that this community needs to provide services to youth, families and seniors” as federal and state funding is coming in to fix some of those gaps.
“This is one in several recent events that is a turning point for Parkland to basically take back its community and become the community that it once was, where people cared about the community, where people cared about their neighbors and where people felt connected,” Edlund said, reflecting on the recent Parkland-Spanaway Blue Zones initiative and partnership between PLU, WSU College of Medicine and MultiCare to bring a new medical and surgical center to the area. “This really is a huge catalyst for change for the better.”
