Neighbors want Crown Hill school property

By the time the Seattle School Board voted last month to sell the former University Heights Elementary School, the building's tenant — the U Heights Center — already was counting on $4 million to buy the place.

But across town at the old Crown Hill Elementary School, neighbors are trying to help the Small Faces Child Development Center buy Crown Hill, where it has operated a day-care facility for 27 years.

Crown Hill's estimated price tag: $6.5 million, a hefty bill for the 180-child center. The existing playground could be turned into a park, but the buyer must be willing to do so in order to tap into city parks funds.

"The community does not want the building to go away," said Small Faces Executive Director Lynn B. Wirta. "They want the family services to continue, and they are very wired and geared toward keeping this intact."

Crown Hill neighbors will host a public meeting with city officials and other agency representatives at 6 tonight at the prospective park site, 14th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 95th Street.

Crown Hill and University Heights are two of five former school buildings — all closed between 1979 and 1989 — that the School Board voted to sell last month. The district has leased all five on a long-term, discounted basis to community groups or nonprofits. The board offered each tenant the first chance to buy the buildings, with a year to come up with a financing plan, before seeking other buyers.

The other former schools are Allen (now the Phinney Neighborhood Center), Fauntleroy (the Fauntleroy Community Center) and Webster (the Nordic Heritage Museum, which is raising money to move to a new building in Ballard).

While the school district wants to preserve the sites for the public, it has financial needs of its own, said School Board member Michael DeBell, who chairs the board's finance committee.

The Crown Hill playfields were designated as a prospective park in the Pro Parks levy, approved by city voters in 2000. The levy allocated $1 million toward the development of a park on the site, with a bicycle loop, an outdoor theater, a skateboard area and a garden.

But the levy money was provided to refurbish the land, not purchase it. The district is negotiating with the city to see if the city would buy the park space, DeBell said.

"There are multiple benefits there," DeBell said. "The open space becomes permanent park property for Seattle citizens, and it makes it much easier for the master tenant to buy the building."

Small Faces directors hope to have a purchasing plan by next year. But even if the tenants can figure out how to pay for the building, their rents will go up 63 percent next June.

The situation has been different at U Heights, which is next to property used for the popular Saturday farmers market.

U Heights community-center directors have been planning to buy the property for two years, ever since they heard the school district might sell, said U Heights Executive Director Richard Sorenson.

After U Heights leaders and neighbors lobbied local officials, the center landed the biggest of its donations, $2.5 million from the City Council.

Sorenson estimates the community center's value at around $10 million, but he's confident the group can buy the building.

"This is a treasure that can't be lost, and there are plenty of people who recognize that," he said. "The situation is not hopeless."

Rachel Fields: 206-464-3305 or rfields@seattletimes.com