MUKILTEO — The city’s most debated 100-year-old building will be up for grabs.
On Tuesday, the Mukilteo City Council voted 5-2 to sell Hawthorne Hall, a crumbling 7,492-square-foot piece of history sitting on a large waterview lot in Old Town. The building, opened in the mid-1920s as a dance hall and meeting place, has been vacant for six years and in need of costly repairs at 1134 Second St.
Officials have not said when the city-owned property will actually go on the market or for how much. There are many details to work out in the months to come. Several buyers have expressed interest.
The Snohomish County Assessor’s Office puts the property’s 2023 assessed valuation at $920,000.
An estimate presented at Tuesday’s meeting was $830,000 if the tattered structure were demolished, which would cost at least $200,000.
“Generally, if it’s an empty piece of property, it would be more valuable,” said Andrew Galuska, the city’s community development director.
The property is zoned single family and would support two lots, Galuska said.
Inside Hawthorne Hall in Washington on July 21, 2023. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
City officials and historical agencies have batted around plans for the hall since 2018. The building housed the Boys & Girls Club of Mukilteo for 60 years and has been vacant since the club moved to a new site. The hall has a full basketball court, kitchen, two multipurpose rooms and 12 parking spaces. It also has lead, asbestos, rot, code issues and a sagging roof.
This is the second time in six months the council has approved the hall’s sale.
In July, with two members absent, the council voted 3-2 to sell and to use the proceeds for recreational purposes. In August, the council unanimously approved a motion to reconsider the sale when all seven members were present.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the two newly elected council members, Mike Dixon and Donna Vago, both voted in favor of selling the property. Both had stated their support of the sale before the November election.
Council President Louis Harris, Vice President Tom Jordal and council member Jason Moon also approved the sale.
“We would be better stewards of the property and the finances to perhaps demolish it and sell it as a flat property,” Moon said.
A suggestion was salvaging pieces, such as a section of the basketball floor, to be used elsewhere to honor the hall’s past.
Inside Hawthorne Hall in Mukilteo on July 21, 2023. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Council members Steve Schmalz and Richard Emery opposed the sale.
“Hawthorne Hall is a key element in the growth and development of Mukilteo and its sense of community and who we are,” Emery said. “Losing that would be tragic.”
He added: “If the property is sold and the building is demolished, having a plaque there that said ‘The former site of Hawthorne Hall’ would be pathetic.”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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