PNA & Seattle Schools reach tentative agreement

After 27 years of renting its home at Phinney Ave. N. and N 67th St., the Phinney Neighborhood Association told PhinneyWood tonight that it has reached a purchase agreement with the Seattle School District.
The agreement was approved by a four-person committee of the school board, and will be introduced and discussed at the full board’s meeting next Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. The board will then vote on it at its October 1 meeting.

The purchase price for the former John B. Allen Elementary School site – including the blue building, brick building and parking lots – is set at $3,050,000. The PNA is in the beginning of a $12 million capital campaign called “Community Begins Here,” and has already raised more than $4 million from the state and city and various foundations and individuals. Once the purchase agreement is finalized, the campaign will ratchet up to raise the remaining money to extensively remodel the buildings to include elevators, improved community areas, new entryways and a new hillside park.
PNA Development Director Ann Bowden told us tonight that the purchase agreement is a win-win for everyone involved: the school district sells off surplused property, and the PNA can now truly put down roots at the community center that draws in tens of thousands of people a year.
Next week the school board also will introduce measures to sell two other local surplused school properties: Ballard’s Webster Elementary School playground to the Seattle Parks Department; and Crown Hill Elementary (Small Faces Child Care will buy the building and the Seattle Parks Department will buy the playground).