SNOHOMISH — City leaders have found a temporary tenant for the historic Carnegie Building — the newly formed Arts of Snohomish artists’ co-op.
The Snohomish City Council on Wednesday night gave the city the go-ahead to lease the 3,000-square-foot, 1968 addition of the Carnegie Building to the nonprofit arts group.
"It feels like being part of a renaissance. It really does," Arts of Snohomish vice president Laurie Cole said.
Cole, owner of the Offset Corner framing shop, said local artists no longer will have to display their works out of town. She said the vision for the Carnegie space might include up to 70 artists displaying, demonstrating and selling every kind of art from jewelry to paintings to photography to clothing.
"It’s just amazing the talent that there is in the general area of Snohomish," Cole said.
The group has cleaning, painting, landscaping and arranging to do, but it hopes to open Arts of Snohomish at the Carnegie the day after Thanksgiving.
"The building right now is like a blank canvas itself," Cole said.
Through its Web site, www.artsofsnohomish.org, the group is also accepting applications from artists who would like to display their works at the Carnegie. The former library was built a century ago with a donation from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Since the library relocated to its new Maple Avenue location, the city moved some parks department staffers to the Carnegie Building to help prevent vandalism, City Council member Liz Loomis said.
Though details of the lease are pending, city leaders say it will be a 12-month agreement that may be terminated by either party with 30-days written notice.
Arts of Snohomish will pay a base price of 65 cents per square foot, or about $1,950 a month. The group will also pay a portion of the building’s electric and gas bills.
City leaders and organizers of Arts of Snohomish also say that use of the Carnegie Building is temporary until the city finds a permanent use for the building.
"We’re just happy to have a home to start with and get this going," Cole said. "The whole community wants to see this happen."
Since the library moved out, residents and elected officials have brainstormed possible uses for the building. Among them: a new city hall, a senior center, an alternative high school, a museum of local history, or a culture and arts center.
The City Council also will have to decide whether to keep the building public, sell it to a private buyer, use it commercially or some combination of all of those.
Reporter Jennifer Warnick:
425-339-3429 or
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