On Tuesday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a proclamation ordering the military to transfer the Olympia Armory to the city of Olympia at a little or no cost.
The Washington National Guard is preparing to move into a new facility, the Tumwater Readiness Center.
Many in the city plan to convert the armory building into a creative campus dedicated to the arts, community development, and economic development initiatives. Currently, the city has launched a community envisioning process to create proposals for the new campus.
The Armory spans 41,160 square feet and also has a 9,700 square foot outbuilding. In fact, the city believes that the structure can accommodate different art facilities such as classrooms, rehearsal rooms, tech labs, studios, offices, restaurants, and events space. It can also house community-based initiatives such as affordable housing and even a City department.
In addition, the city encourages members of the art community and other creative organizations to participate in the planning process. To join, residents must register at the Engage Olympia website.
In a statement during the regular city council meeting, Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby shared that it had taken at least 30 years for the city to have a structure dedicated to the creative arts. “It's been a long hard road to get an art type center for the community,” she shared.
The site, which is located at 515 Eastside St. was known as the first Washington School until it was demolished in 1923. Then in 1938, the Washington National Guard commissioned local architect Joseph Wohleb to create an art-deco-style building. Today, the military uses it as a field artillery battalion.
The decision to start the arts initiative came after 1,900 Olympia residents signed a petition to convert the building into a creative campus. The city has until May 30, 2023, to complete an agreement with the state for the transfer.
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AJoytoknow
I hope this isn't a case of- wow sounds great, oly loves art!- just to be a disappointing move to further gentrification of the area. We can't have nice things because greedy developers say oh that's nice and then start making plans to price all the lower income people out of hometown neighborhoods. The current oly city council looks out for these morally void developers over the people getting priced out every time. I once would have loved an art center, now I'm just worried for lifetime residents.
Wednesday, June 9, 2021 Report this