Puyallup School District looks to buy $2 million property for new junior high
The Puyallup School District wants to purchase a $2 million piece of property in South Hill for a new junior high school.
The 43-acre property in the northwest corner of 144th Street East and 134th Avenue East is owned by Tacoma Public Utilities.
School district communications director Sarah Gillispie said the new junior high school is in the six-year capital facilities plan to prepare for the South Hill region to continue to develop. The construction of the school has yet to be determined.
“Timing will depend on the housing market and how quickly new homes and communities are built and occupied, but sometime in the next 15 years is likely contingent on voter funding for new school construction,” she told The Puyallup Herald in an email.
The sale is moving through the Tacoma City Council legislative process after a unanimous approval from the Tacoma Public Utilities Board in early January. In 1912, Tacoma Public Utilities acquired the property as part of the McMillin Reservoir complex to store water from the Green River for the Tacoma Water service area, a city memorandum on the sale said.
“Tacoma Water has determined that it does not need the property …,” the memorandum said.
Puyallup School District expressed initial interest in the $2,025,000 property in 2011, but it took awhile to collect the necessary funds, the memorandum said.
The school is likely to be built alongside the existing Hunt Elementary School located to the west of the property.
The Tacoma City Council is expected to hold a public hearing on the sale on Feb. 9 and to vote on Feb. 16.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
