PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic History Center has declined the city of Port Angeles’ offer to purchase the historic Lincoln School property, citing a lack of space to house its inventory or a “mutually beneficial” result.
David Brownell, the executive director of the North Olympic History Center (NOHC), wrote in a letter to Port Angeles City Manager Nathan West dated Tuesday that “the abandonment of our curatorial building would leave us with no place to house our inventory of historical items.”
“As discussed in each of our past meetings, we are not financially nor physically prepared to move hundreds of thousands of inventory items,” Brownell wrote.
The city last week offered the NOHC a deal that totaled $788,000 — $599,000 in cash to acquire the entire property at 926 W. Eighth St. and an exchange of commercial property located at 935 W. 10th St., which is valued at $189,000.
West said the city planned to preserve the facade of the former school and redevelop the site into multifamily housing.
City leaders said the offer was good until June 30 and requested a written response.
Brownell said the NOHC board considered the offer when it met on Monday.
“We are committed to our mission of preserving and sharing the cultural heritage of the North Olympic Peninsula community — collecting, documenting and preserving thousands of artifacts, archival documents and pieces of local artwork — and making them accessible to the community through exhibits, free public programs, and our digitization efforts making thousands of our records available for free online,” Brownell wrote in his letter to West.
West called it a “missed opportunity for our community.”
“We have been working for over a year to propose solutions that would allow the City to acquire the property and save the historic school building,” he said in a statement. “The City’s offer submitted to the North Olympic History Center on June 4 was developed thoughtfully to ensure it benefited both organizations, and we are disappointed that the foresight of historic preservation was not a factor in their decision.
“For our community to succeed, it is imperative that each organization look beyond its own interests and strive to make decisions that result in lasting benefits for the people we serve.”
West said the city and the NOHC have been involved in discussions since February 2024 in an effort to preserve the building and rehabilitate the site.
“Despite the City’s multiple proposals, the NOHC has not provided the City with an opportunity to purchase the Lincoln School building,” city representatives stated in a press release.
The only formal proposal NOHC provided to the city included the sale of the property’s frontage lots for $599,000, according to the press release.
“Per the proposal, the NOHC would use the proceeds from the purchase to demolish the former school building,” the release stated. “The City, [whose] priority is to preserve the historical building and focus on redeveloping the site, declined this offer.”
The NOHC purchased the former Lincoln Elementary School for $210,000 in 1991 with the goal of transforming it into a museum.
Since then, the organization has invested $500,000 into stabilizing the building, including constructing a new roof, internal structure enhancement and ripping out an old wooden floor and replacing it with concrete, Brownell said in a previous interview.
The NOHC put out a Request for Proposal in April 2023 for a new entity to take over the project, and then it announced plans that November to have the 1916 Lincoln School building demolished following a multiyear process that included researching alternative uses.
Brownell estimated in January 2024 that full restoration of the building would cost about $12 million.
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Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-417-3531 or by email at brian.mclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
