Tacoma private school campus that closed abruptly sells for $6.4 million
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- Reality Sports Foundation purchased the Sound Christian Academy campus for $6.375 million.
- The nonprofit plans to host baseball, volleyball, and wrestling programs at the facility.
- The sale marks a new era for the property, which served as a private school for decades.
A faith-based youth sports organization has purchased the Sound Christian Academy property, with plans to turn the shuttered private school campus into a centralized hub for their competitive sports and athletic training programs.
Reality Sports Foundation purchased the property at 2052 S. 64th St. for $6.375 million on April 22, according to the real estate excise tax affidavit filed with the state Department of Revenue.
The sports nonprofit was founded in 2006 and offers baseball, tennis, wrestling and volleyball programs for youth ages 5 to 18, along with strength and conditioning classes for all ages. Coaches also serve as spiritual mentors and teach lessons from the Bible during practices and workouts.
The handoff marks a new era for the campus, which served students for decades as a Christian private school.
“We feel honored to be able to continue that work in some way, that’s maybe more targeted with sports,” Brian Peterson, executive director of Reality Sports, said in a phone call May 22. “... we’re really honored to be able to continue that legacy of faith in the community.”
Sound Christian Academy, formerly known as Tacoma Baptist Schools, abruptly closed in August due to an inability to cover its expenses, despite efforts to save the school through donations and a refinancing arrangement that fell through.
Peterson spoke of big plans for the new campus. A centralized facility was part of Reality Sports’ vision 20 years ago, he said. They moved into a facility at 239 W. Stewart Ave. in Puyallup 10 years ago, but it has limited capacity and only hosts their wrestling and strength and conditioning programs.
Reality Sports’ other programs are “spread out all over the region, in whatever fields, gyms, churches that we can be in,” he said.
They began looking for a bigger space three years ago, according to Peterson. Their real-estate agent flagged the Sound Christian Academy property after it went up for sale.
Now, instead of five or six different locations, Reality Sports will bring their competitive wrestling, baseball and volleyball programs under one roof. Their new location will be more accessible to families in places like Tacoma, Lakewood, Gig Harbor and Auburn, he said. The campus also has an outdoor field they could use for other sports in the future, and they’re considering ways to partner with nonprofits or churches to use the classroom spaces.
They’ll still keep their Puyallup facility for their adult strength and conditioning classes, he said.
Reality Sports hopes to welcome their first athletes to the space by Nov. 1, starting with baseball and volleyball, said Peterson. Wrestling will follow around the first quarter of 2027, potentially by March 1.
Before then, they’ll need to do some repainting, resurfacing the gym floor with their branding and renovating some of the office spaces, he said.
Peterson co-founded Reality Sports Foundation with Tim Kuykendall in 2006. The two were teachers and coaches at Auburn High School and “saw just really a need in the youth sports culture for a greater focus on more than just the physical training,” Peterson said.
Since then, Reality Sports has grown to include 12 full- and part-time staff and between 60 and 80 coaches, and serve some 2,000 to 3,000 families each year, he said.
Reality Sports offers much of their programming, including camps and training, on a donation-basis where families choose how much to give. The nonprofit plans to launch a capital campaign in the fall or winter to pay off their purchase of the Sound Christian property in the next few years.
