Mukilteo council to reconsider Hawthorne Hall sale, after approving it

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 9, 2023

MUKILTEO — Wannabe buyers of Hawthorne Hall will have to wait, perhaps another 100 years.

In a surprising twist nearly three hours into Monday’s meeting, the Mukilteo City Council approved a motion to reconsider the historic hall’s sale, which was approved at the last meeting.

It brings the prior motion back on the table to sell the hall and use the proceeds for recreational purposes.

The council voted 3-2 at the July 17 meeting to sell the historic hall that is in substantial disrepair but on a prime waterview lot. Two council members, Richard Emery and council President Elisabeth Crawford, were absent at the July meeting.

“Those are two votes that could have swayed the outcome one way or another,” council Vice President Louis Harris said Monday. “Because I believe that it is a piece of history and it is a big decision to sell it, I think every council member’s vote should be counted in that.”

Harris made the motion Monday for the reconsideration of the sale. He voted to sell the hall at the July meeting.

Council members have the option to change their original vote in the reconsideration.

On Monday, the vote for the reconsideration was unanimous.

City officials and historical agencies have debated the fate of Hawthorne Hall since 2018.

The hall opened in the mid-1920s as a dance hall and meeting place. It is in a quiet residential area on Second Street in the city’s Old Town district.

The 7,492-square-foot building housed the Boys & Girls Club of Mukilteo for 60 years and has been vacant for five years since the club moved to a new site. It has a full basketball court, kitchen and two multipurpose rooms, as well as a sagging roof, lead paint and building code issues.

The next step is to put the reconsideration vote on a future council agenda when all council members can be present.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.