FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

What’s this about?

In May of 2022 The Parkland School building was being sold to developers for demolition to build an apartment building. Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) no longer had use for East Campus and was pursuing this option. Citizens of Parkland felt the historic school was sound and worth saving for a community center and approached PLU with a proposal to buy the school to save the historic landmark to serve the community. 

What is next? What happens when the school is saved? 

We did save Parkland School, for now! As of May 1, 2024, The Parkland Community Assn. owns the Parkland School Building! Thankfully, PLU worked with us to self-finance the sale and granted The Parkland Community Assn. a 2-year, interest-free loan for $2,100,000 to purchase the building.

Our first payment of $1,050,000 is due April 30, 2025. The remainder is due April 30th, 2026. 

We still have a long way to go on our fundraising goal and still need your donations – whether it is your time, donating services that we need to get the building open to the public, or your money that will help fund these projects and pay for our loan. The Parkland Community Assn is 100% volunteer-run and we need help from everyone in the community to help us achieve our goals and get this building fully open and loan paid off! 

The Vision: Transform the 36,000 square-foot historic Parkland School into a central community space that fosters a vibrant, safe, and diverse community, offering educational and cultural services to benefit youth, families, and seniors in Parkland, Washington 

There will be space available for the community to rent out for events, and office space available for non-profits. We want to have a small business restaurant incubator in the building. Some generous benefactors purchased a pizza oven and a bunch of kitchen equipment to get the kitchen space updated. We are working with Bargreen Ellingson, a restaurant supply, equipment & design company, who donated their time to help us map out the best configuration for our kitchen space using the equipment we have. This space could be used as commercial kitchen space that we rent out to new restaurants or could be rented out if we use the gym as event space, the possibilities are endless!

The Impact: We want to provide a space that serves our community! From music programs to a restaurant incubator and renting space for non-profits that provide even more services for the community.

How are we going to do it? How are you going to pay for it?
We are working every angle we can think of, from partnering with restaurants for fundraiser nights and hosting our own fundraisers, collecting donations from community members and businesses, to collecting rental income, applying for grants and working with local legislators to get funds appropriated in the WA State Budget. The idea is to use rental income to cover the building’s operating expenses and some programming for Parkland Community Assn. and hopefully get more donations and awarded more grants to help us pay off our remaining loan for the building of $2.1 Million. The first payment of $1,050,000 is due April 30th, 2025.

We have over 20,000 square-feet of space/office space that is available for rent to non-profit organizations. We are in talks with multiple organizations who are interested in renting out our space! Once leases are signed, we will announce our tenants!

In addition to the donations from Parkland area community members and businesses, we are in the process of applying for grants, have already been awarded some grants and even had help from Steve Conway to get $500,000 appropriated out of the 2023-2025 State Capital Budget for the Parkland School (Parkland) Project. Check out our home page to see the current status of our fundraising efforts.

Is my donation tax deducible?

Yes, The Parkland Community Assn. is a 501(3)(C) registered organization with the State of WA and your donations are tax deductible! Please donate electronically here, send your check to our P.O. Box, call Julie at 253-906-8751 to arrange in-person drop off of a check or cash. If you have any questions, please email us at saveparklandschool@gmail.com *If you donate via check or cash, then the Parkland Community Assn. doesn’t have to pay any card processing fees!

Please send mail to:

Parkland Community Assn.
℅ Julie Collison
PO Box 45355
Parkland, WA 98448

What if I don’t have the funds to donate or time to volunteer?

That’s okay! You can still help us by spreading the word about our mission to start Parkland Community Center. If you can, please tell a friend, or as many people as possible about our goals to save the school and turn it into a community center and share the link to donate on social media. We have a fast approaching deadline of April 30th, 2025 to raise the funds we need for our first payment to PLU!

How could this benefit the Parkland community?

A community center would provide space for non-profits and community services organizations to provide services including:

•  Health & Nutrition Support

•  Wellness Resources

•  Recreation, Fitness, and Intramural Sports Facility Options

•  Theater & Performing Arts

• Restaurant & Small Business Incubator

•  Resources for Workforce Preparation

•  Meeting Room and Event Spaces

•  A Central Community Space for Parkland (Our amazing Parkland/Spanaway Library is the closest we have to this!)

Why do you need so much money from the public / community? 

Parkland, WA is part of unincorporated Pierce County and we don't have a dedicated stream of Tax Dollars to fund this community project. The PCA has been appropriated $500,000 fund to the Parkland School Project as part of the 2023-2025 State Capital Budget (thank you Steve Conway for helping make this happen and thank you WA State Tax Payers!) but we still need to raise more funds. In addition to asking the public for their investment, we have applied for many grants, are in the process of applying for other grants and We have already had many generous donations from the community but still need more before our first loan payment is due on April 30th, 2025.

Why does the building cost 2.85 million? Isn’t that too much?

Parkland School was purchased from the Franklin Pierce School District by PLU was 1.7 million. The asking price for the property at 2.85 million is based on current market value of the building and the land.

How did this all get started?

In Parkland, Washington on May 13th, 2022 Jani Hitchen spoke at the May13th SCC Spring Banquet Luncheon. She informed the participants of the sale and imminent demolition of the building. Members of the community heard of an upcoming meeting of the Landmark and Historic Preservation Commission meeting in which developers were requesting the delisting of Parkland School from the historic register. 

Who’s behind all this?

Parkland Community Center is a project of the Parkland Community Association. Up until July 1, 2023, this has been a 100% community volunteer effort, financed completely by in kind and cash donations. Our community partners include Pacific Lutheran University, Spanaway Community Association, Franklin Pierce School District, Trinity Lutheran Church, Garfield Street Business Association, Parkland Fireside SafeStreets, Parkland Spanaway Kiwanis, Parkland Rotary and Bargreen Ellingson. We have gratefully received support from Senator Steve Conway, advice and referrals from representative Melanie Morgan, interest from Representative Sharlett Mena and help from Pierce County Council members Jani Hitchen and Marty Campbell.

We hired a professional grant writer and a research and development consultant. We continue to benefit from assistance from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

Why is the building worth saving?

Parkland School has served the community for 115 years. It is listed as an Historic Landmark by Pierce County Landmark and Historic Preservation Commission. A complete Condition and Needs Assessment (CNA) was conducted by Historic Architect, Vernon Abelsen in March 2023. He completed a preservation assessment concluding, “Overall, building appears sound, consistent with Nov. 22, 2011 report by PCS Structural Solutions commissioned by Pacific Lutheran University.” 

It was named as a most endangered historic building by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and was awarded their Valerie Sivinski Historic Preservation grant. Parkland School also received a Preservation Planning grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Northwest Vernacular has published a 40-page Historic Preservation Planning document including examples of regional projects like Parkland School Community Center and listing potential grant opportunities.

Prepared by Parkland Community Assn. Updated 1/10/2025.