PORT TOWNSEND — An effort to secure funding for renovation of an empty building on the Fort Worden State Park campus has kicked into high gear because of fear of losing money promised by the state Legislature.
Turning 14,000 square feet of space in Building 202 into a home for Peninsula College has been planned since 2011, but action has been postponed because of funding availability and change in the management of part of Fort Worden.
On May 1, the Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Center Public Development Authority took over management of the campus portions of the 434-acre park for educational purposes while State Parks continues to manage the camping, beach and recreation areas.
“We need to get all our commitments by the beginning of January,” Dave Robison, executive director of the public development authority, told the PDA board last week.
“If this isn’t nailed down, the money promised to us by the Legislature could be swept away for some other purpose,” Robison said.
The renovation is expected to cost $6.1 million.
Funds committed so far include $2.3 million from Washington State Parks, $2 million from the Legislature, $500,000 from the city of Port Townsend and $700,000 from the state Department of Commerce.
The shortfall, estimated at about $600,000 or $700,000, would be subsidized by a tax credit sale.
Historical tax credits would be sold to investors to cover the expected difference between money that has been committed to the project and its estimated cost, according to Robison.
Robison said the PDA’s immediate role is to hire a consultant who can shepherd the PDA and Peninsula College through the tax credit process.
In the meantime, Robison looks for the college to put out a call for bids, with a contact awarded in December.
Once a contract is awarded, the exact amount in tax credits would be identified.
After funding is secured, permitting and construction could begin, estimated to take about 13 months.
Under that schedule, the building could be open for classes sometime in late 2016.
Renovation of Building 202 would not be of all its total area of 20,000 square feet; some 6,000 square feet have not been earmarked for any purpose.
According to a Peninsula College document, the proposed renovation would end in four general classrooms, a science classroom, a studio-art room, a learning lab, a workforce training room, student study space, faculty offices and a reception space.
It would replace Peninsula College’s current quarters in an old schoolhouse, which has long been inadequate for the college’s Port Townsend needs, according to Luke Robins, the college’s president.
“The schoolhouse doesn’t support what we want to do long-term,” Robins said.
“It’s not just the programming, but the building can’t support the technology we need.”
The new building would feature video-equipped classrooms where classes can be conducted in one location and viewed in another, Robins said.
“This connection between the campuses would allow us to develop a state of the art learning environment,” he said.
The renovated area originally was expected to house Goddard College academic programs.
Goddard College — which has its main campus in Plainfield, Vt., but also has a campus in Seattle — shares the schoolhouse space with Peninsula College but its place in the reconfigured Building 202 is uncertain, according to Joyce Gustafson, the college’s director of operations.
After discontinuing its four-year degree program last year, the school offers residency programs in creative writing and interdisciplinary arts, which meet on the Fort Worden Campus four times a year for 10 days.
Gustafson said that when Building 202 opens, the college may lease space within the new facility or continue to offer its classes in various locations throughout the park.
“We are 100 percent behind the effort to renovate 202 but we are not financially involved,” she said.
“We are unsure what effect it will have on us at this point.”
While the process is in place, its completion is not a sure thing, Robison said.
“There are a lot of different parties involved,” he said.
“Any one of them could walk away, and the whole thing could fall apart.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
