PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic History Center, which purchased the old Lincoln Elementary School in 1991 with the goal of transforming it into a museum, has put out a Request for Proposal for a new entity to take over the project at the north end of the property.
The RFP has a closing date of May 22, but according to NOHC Executive Director David Brownell, the search will continue until the board is satisfied with the proposal.
“The RFP itself is open-ended and we will review the proposals as they come until we find the right fit,” Brownell said.
The history center purchased the property in 1991, when it was destined to be razed, for $210,000, aiming to convert the school building into a museum.
“We’re not so much looking to sell the building/property but rather looking for someone to take over the project and allow us to divest from it,” Brownell said.
The NOHC has raised an estimated $400,000 over the last 30 years to seismically retrofit and refurbish the building as well as put a new roof on it, among other improvements.
“Despite these efforts, the building continued to deteriorate faster than we could repair and keep up with it,” Brownell said.
In 1996, a task force of community members with experience in planning and development, real estate, engineering, surveying and finance determined that remodeling the school would be impractical and beyond the fundraising capacity of the historical center. Nevertheless, it continued to raise funds for improvements until last summer, when the board decided to relinquish the building along with the north end of the property, according to the RFP.
NOHC intends to continue to occupy the south side of the property, where it will continue to keep its archives and storage area.
The NOHC board began the conversation of divesting from the building in 2017.
“Our board started to have the discussions that it was time to divest ourselves from this project because we just couldn’t keep up with the annual maintenance, much less the cost of actually rehabilitating it into a museum,” Brownell said.
An assessment was conducted in 1996 into what it would cost to convert the school into a museum. The estimate came out to $3.5 million.
Brownell believes that estimate would be two to three times as much by today’s standards, reaching somewhere between $6 million to $10 million.
“For a museum, things must be climate-controlled and secured to an extra degree beyond office buildings,” Brownell said.
“To turn the building into a museum today would probably cost around $10 million, which is far beyond the scope of what our small non-profit is capable of managing.”
“Beyond that, the scope of the annual upkeep of a building like that is beyond what we’re capable of managing,” Brownell said.
The school was built in 1916 and was operational until it closed in 1978. The property on Eighth and C streets has been the site of a schoolhouse since 1861.
Although NOHC is looking to divest from the school and the north half of the property, it still has an idea of what it would like to see happen to the site.
“Ideally someone comes in and saves the building and does something with the rest of the property or takes on the north half of the property in exchange for razing the building down to the pad so that we are not stuck with that cost,” Brownell said.
“We don’t want to see the building demolished, but we recognize that it is beyond our ability to save it.”
Brownell said the ideal scenario would be for local nonprofits to come together and collaborate and use the building as office space or a community center.
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Reporter Ken Park can be reached at kpark@peninsuladailynews.com.
