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THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2015
Vol. CXXIV, No. 122
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF TACOMA Devoted to the Courts, Real Estate, Finance, Industrial Activities, and Publication of Legal Notices
Published Published Since Since 1890 1890
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Renovation revives shuttered, century-old Rogers Elementary School building Article and Photos By Todd Matthews, Editor When contractors unlocked the doors to the former John R. Rogers Elementary School building late last year, they made a surprising discovery: trespassers were living in it. The three-story, 108-year-old structure sat mostly vacant for more than a decade after it was closed by the Tacoma Public School District in 2002. A church
purchased the property with the intent of using it as a facility to serve Tacoma's homeless population, but that plan was never realized and the building, which is perched atop a hill and located at 1301 E. 34th St., was sold two years ago to a private investor living on Mercer Island. Last year, a lease was signed and a $6.9 million renovation was under way to turn the building into Green Dot Public Schools' Destiny Middle School. "We actually found some bodies in here—living bodies!—though we were scared about one," recalled Pacific Charter School Development Project Manager Scott Kaloper of the renovation's earliest days. On Tuesday, Kaloper and a team of Green Dot Public Schools representatives offered media a hard-hat tour of the 53,000-square-foot building. According to Green Dot Public Schools Executive Director Bree Dusseault, A $6.9 million an inaugural sixth-grade renovation of the for- class of approximately 200 mer John R. Rogers students will begin to fill Elementary School 29 classrooms in August. in Tacoma will The charter school is exturn the three-story, pected to expand into a full 108-year-old build- middle school with three ing into Destiny grade levels and 600 stuMiddle School. The dents over the next three charter school will years. open in August with For the past seven approximately 200 months, Kaloper and Pacifsixth-grade students, ic Charter School Developand expand into a ment have been overseeing full middle school the renovation (Korsmo with three grade lev- Construction is the conels and 600 students tractor; BCRA is the deover the next three signer). years. The building has a rich pedigree. It was designed by the architect Frederick Heath—who also designed the Pythian Temple, Stadium High School, and the Ansonia Building (among may other historically significant Tacoma buildings)— and was the first concrete school building in Tacoma. But it was never listed on any historic registers or officially deemed a local landmark. Historic Tacoma placed the building on its watch list of endangered historic properties. "Historic Tacoma's primary concern was the longterm vacancy and, with that, the possibility of demolition," said Historic Tacoma Boardmember Marshall McClintock. "We're certainly happy to see the building in use again and contributing to the neighborhood." Historic Tacoma founding board member and former president Sharon Winters CONTINUED agreed. "Personally, the large, ON PAGE 2