EVERETT — It could have been a huge land deal and put a Washington State University branch campus at a gateway to the city.
But it’s not going to happen.
On Wednesday, Everett schools superintendent Gary Cohn announced the district had ended negotiations to buy the Frontier Communicat
ions building and surrounding land on 41st Street.
It was an unusual step since neither he nor school board members — save one — ever publicly acknowledged the district had been trying to acquire the 289,000-square-foot structure and the 22 acres on which it sits.
Moreover, school leaders confirmed, for the first time publicly, that talks took place with the city about leasing space to WSU to plant the seeds of a four-year university.
“There’s been a lot of speculation and just to clear the air we felt that this is the right thing to do,” Mary Waggoner, director of communications, said of the decision to go public.
School board member Jessica Olson stirred up some of the speculation by writing about the negotiations on her Facebook page and in online comments to articles in The Herald.
For example, in a posting last month, she asserted Cohn asked the board in November for a “directive to act on the purchase” and put forth the figure of $25 million as a possible price.
Olson could not be reached for comment Wednesday. She also missed the portion of Tuesday night’s school board meeting when the subject of the building’s acquisition came up.
Cohn and Waggoner declined to comment Wednesday on whether Olson’s postings played into the decision to go public Wednesday.
Cohn said his briefings to the board in the last few months came in executive session. State law specifically allows real estate transactions to be discussed behind closed doors and the content kept private.
Wednesday’s announcement closes another chapter in the district’s long search for a place where it can consolidate educational services and administrative operations.
A few years ago there was talk of constructing a new building next to the district-owned Everett Memorial Stadium, Waggoner said.
About two years ago, the district pondered buying the building and land on 41st Street when it was put up for sale by Verizon. The telecommunications firm pulled out of the talks during its acquisition by Frontier.
In October, Frontier officials contacted the district to re-start the conversation, Cohn said.
“It seemed there was a tremendous potential for educational and business partnerships — even, perhaps, a way of supporting the city’s long term pursuit of a four-year university,” Cohn said in a prepared statement. “Those factors and initially attractive terms made the location worthy of thoughtful investigation.”
Following months of talks, it turned out to be “too much of a risk for our finances,” Waggoner said.
Those risks increased when it became clear WSU would not be coming on board as a tenant.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson has worked for months on a plan for WSU to expand its presence in the city by taking control of the University Center of Puget Sound. Everett Community College now runs the program on its campus. It is a collaborative that serves about 500 students in an array of courses offered by public and private four-year colleges.
Today, there is a legislative hearing on a bill to bring about the transfer of power.
Stephanson and WSU President Elson Floyd explored the idea of moving the University Center to the Frontier building — should the Legislature approve the change.
But opposition to WSU getting control of the University Center prompted Stephanson to drop the idea of relocating and call for WSU operating the center at its current location.
Without the commitment of the university, a purchase didn’t pencil out though school officials don’t regret trying.
“It just seemed like a possibility truly worthy of exploration which is what we did,” Waggoner said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com
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