Bellingham School District bought land in Barkley for $2.1 million for this project
The Bellingham School District is moving its administrative offices to a new building in the Barkley District after buying an undeveloped piece of land on Barkley Boulevard for $2.1 million.
The property is near the Regal movie theater.
The sale was finalized Oct. 30. The building’s design will start early next year with the help of an advisory committee. Construction is set for 2021, school district officials announced Wednesday, Dec. 11.
The school district said in January this year that it was considering relocating after evaluating whether to remodel its current offices at 1306 Dupont St. or move to a new building.
School Superintendent Greg Baker said then that remodeling the 111-year-old Dupont Street offices would be costly and the district could save more than $1 million by moving into a new building.
Problems at the current offices include seismic safety, electrical and heating systems that are at the end of their useful life, inadequate meeting space and basement flooding.
Had the school district decided to stay in the Dupont Street building, it would have had to incur significant expense from temporarily leasing space for staff during the estimated 18 to 24 months it would have taken to complete the remodel, officials have said.
About $17.1 million from a 2013 bond approved by voters has been set aside for the administrative offices project, although the final cost for the building’s construction hasn’t been finalized, according to district spokeswoman Dana Smith.
The new building in Barkley also will include a child care center and room for nonprofit partners that serve families and the community, the school district said.
Child care in Whatcom County is among the least affordable in the state and space can be so scarce that parents are advised to put their unborn children on wait lists, which can stretch a year or more.
“We recognize the need for child care and early learning across our community, and we are excited to explore options for the new building to help support one of the Bellingham Promise’s key strategies: early childhood education,” Smith said.
The Bellingham Promise lays out its commitment to the district’s students.
“We will work with our community partners, such as the Opportunity Council, to develop the vision and scope of the early learning program (child care) in the new building, including who the program will serve,” she added.
The current district office on Dupont was once Roeder Elementary School, which was built in 1908.
It has partially been used as administrative offices since the 1950s and stopped being a school in 1972, Smith said in a previous Herald story.
No decision has been made on what to do with the Dupont offices.
“We will continue to use the Dupont Street property as our district office until the Barkley building is complete,” Smith said. “If we have not found a district purpose for the Dupont Street building, then we will sell it.”
