EvCC again buying on Broadway with Everett Eagles purchase

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 31, 2020

EVERETT — A small expansion may help Everett Community College ease its parking challenges and prepare for future growth.

EvCC is buying the Broadway Avenue home of Everett’s Fraternal Order of Eagles, a small parcel located a couple blocks south of the main campus.

On Thursday, the state Board of Community and Technical Colleges approved the community college’s acquisition of 1216 Broadway for $2.1 million. The deal is expected to be completed by October.

The site, which is three-quarters of an acre in size, has 51 parking spaces and a one-story building that has been the aerie for the Eagles since 2005. For years before that it was the Cookbook Restaurant.

Initially, the property will be used as a campus parking lot. In the future, the building, which has a kitchen and meeting rooms, could be outfitted for instructional programs. Neither a timeline for using the spaces nor a specific instructional program have been determined, college officials said.

In an email, officials said acquiring the property is “important to expanding the campus footprint to be able to support serving more students in the future.”

EvCC trustees approved the purchase July 29. The resolution they passed envisioned using those parking spaces to offset the “impact of campus expansion and parking demand on the residential properties surrounding the college.”

The college is building a new Learning Resource Center to replace the Library Media Center and a new classroom building to replace the nearly six-decade-old Baker Hall. Those projects are under way on the east side of North Broadway near the Washington State University center.

To pay for the Eagles’ property, trustees will use a share of $10 million in state funds provided in the current capital budget.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.