The Seattle School District is starting to shift its focus away from school closures to it's inventory of surplus buildings, including three in the Ballard area that the district could decide to sell or increase rents to make more money.

The district's real-estate portfolio includes buildings that serve as interim school sites and long- and short-term leases with third parties. Many provide neighborhood and educational services.

In all, the district plans to evaluate the fate of 13 sites in the coming year, said Ron English with the district's property management department.

"We will work with each tenant individually," said English. "Some tenants may want to buy the property, others may wish to continue renting."

Information will be presented to the School Board Finance Committee in February and March, both on rental rates and on whether to keep or dispose of properties, said English. The full board will vote on the final decision.

English said the district does not yet know by how much it may decide to increase the amount of money it earns on leases.

"It is possible that some tenants may have a significant increase in their rent, but it would not be until the next rent adjustment rate, which in some cases is a year or more away," he said.

The district could decide to sell its excess property to generate money that might be spent on existing school buildings or keep a number of the buildings, in case they need to be reopened later as schools.

But neighborhood groups and educational organizations that get a discount from the district worry their programs could be in jeopardy if the district hikes the rent or puts their building up for sale.

Allen Elementary

The Phinney Neighborhood Association in the former Allen Elementary building is one of seven of the district's tenants that pay a discounted rent of 50 percent fair-market value based on a district policy that attaches value to youth and family services.

The association moved into the building on Phinney Avenue North in 1981 shortly after the district closed the school. In exchange for a discount on rent, tenants agree to pay for maintenance and general up-keep of the district-owned building,

Since the association moved in, its invested more than $3 million in maintenance and repairs to the property, said Ed Medeiros, executive director of the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

"Basically we all inherited old run down properties and spent a lot of time and energy getting them to be useful and good for the communities they serve," said Medeiros.

Medeiros said he expects the district to raise the rent when the lease is up for renewal in 2009, but by how much is uncertain.

"We know every landlord reevaluates their rent rates periodically, but the district is talking about doubling, tripling and in some cases quadrupling rents," he said, "It makes it unrealistic."

If the rent were doubled, bringing the annual payment to about $110,000, Medeiros said it would be tough for the association to continue.

"If they doubled the rent that would be really hard for us," he said. "We would hardly be able to pay for the maintenance of the property. That would be a lot of money for us and the property isn't producing that much."

Instead, the association hopes to purchase the site. The Seattle City Council has set aside $5 million in the city's general budget to help purchase buildings like Allen. But the association would still have to raise a substantial amount of the asking price, which is currently unknown.

"They (the district) need to be realistic and respect these long-term relationships," Medeiros said. "We're an institution--it'd be kinda hard to leave."

Crown Hill School

Purchase could be an option for some surplus buildings like Allen Elementary but not for inventoried properties like the Crown Hill site that could be used as schools again, said English.

Small Faces Child Development Center has held the master lease on the former school building at Holman Road Northwest and 13th Avenue Northwest since 1998. The lease is up for renewal in 2008.

Catherine Weatbrook, who serves on the Small Faces Board of Directors, said the school building has become a much-needed community center for Crown Hill and losing it could be detrimental to the neighborhood.

Including Small Faces, the building provides space for sports activities, ballet and Pilates studios and community meetings.

"It's sort of an arts hub," Weatbrook said. "It's different than the traditional community club."

The center receives a break on rent in exchange for shouldering most of the repair and maintenance costs but would likely have to relocate if faced with a large rent increase.

The educational program needs about 6,000 square feet, not including outdoor play areas, to operate its program, but "that kind of space just isn't available here," said Weatbrook.

If the program had to move, it would be forced to relocate outside of the cluster it serves. That would mean having to say good-bye to many of its current students and possibly some staff.

"It would change our program," said Weatbrook. "It's equivalent to starting a new center."

The amount of money and time spent on moving could also devastate the program, she said.

"It would take at least a year to get a place prepared and up to standards for a child-learning center," said Weatbrook. "We might be able to make the monthly rent but, logistically, that's extremely unlikely as well. It's pretty daunting."

A new city park that's being planned for the Crown Hill site has been put on hold while the district decides what it wants to do with the property. After several community meetings, the school district, Small Faces and the Seattle Parks Department reached a general agreement that the project can produce mutually benefits for the community and the Small Faces center.

However, the district later reversed its position, saying they couldn't guarantee the use of the land while they reviewed their real estate holdings.

"It is playing the waiting game," said Pamela Alspaugh senior landscape architect for the parks department. "They (the school district) don't seem to know what they want to do with their property."

Daniel Webster School

Built in 1907, the Webster building has housed the Nordic Heritage Museum for the past 25 years. The museum plans to leave for a new building by 2012 but its lease with the district runs out in 2010 and that has Marianne Forssblad, the museum's executive director, more than a little worried.

"It's absolutely a concern," said Forssblad, who will retire next year after 27 years as director of the museum. "A significant increase in rent will create a lot of hardships on us. I don't know what we would do."

During the last several years, the museum has tried to purchase the Webster building from the district but was turned down.

The museum recently closed a $5.1 million deal to purchase the Fenpro Building on Market Street to build a larger and more modern facility. But there are still several years of fundraising ahead to build the new facility, and Forssblad hopes the museum can stay put without incurring a large rent increase before they are ready to leave.

After a highly contentious public input process this past summer, the School Board voted to close six schools and an interim site by fall 2007 to address declining enrollment and a budget gap. English said the district has not yet determined what might be done with those empty buildings.

School Board member Sally Soriano said the board would carefully evaluate each site before making any decisions about excess buildings.

"The issue of community use will be looked at and the historical use of the buildings will be considered," said Soriano, a member of a committee that will consider the future of surplus buildings. "The board recognizes how important it is to help make them viable to the community while also looking at what the best use of taxpayer dollars is and finding that balance."

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@ballardnewstribune.com