SEQUIM — The imagined civic center is like a new girl at the high school dance. She’s mysterious, so people are curious.
But suitors are still looking around the room, certainly not ready to commit at this stage.
Developers Jerry Hann and John Cannon presented the civic center idea to Sequim officials last month.
Snug against Sequim Avenue’s east edge and north of U.S. Highway 101, a 25-acre parcel could accommodate a new City Hall, police department, public library and Museum & Arts Center.
And the flabbergasting part is that Hann told the City Council they could have the land for $1. The developer said he wants to help Sequim’s downtown prosper and promote the pedestrian experience.
Two more tenants?
Now two more potential tenants are expressing interest — Peninsula College and the Sequim Senior Center.
Frank Needham, Sequim’s capital projects manager, talked recently with Peninsula College President Tom Keegan and the Senior Center’s board.
The college needs about 4,000 square feet of classroom space in Sequim, Needham said.
Keegan has suggested the city and college cooperate to win a large grant to build those classrooms.
They could be used as meeting rooms by other local groups, Needham added.
Peninsula College and the Senior Center are joining the “civic center working team,” to look at ways to share space, raise money and fit into Hann and Cannon’s grand vision.
“We’re interested because of the growth of Sequim and our concerns that our current building won’t safely accommodate more people and more activities,” said Senior Center Executive Director Michael Smith.
Smith said he’d like a bigger center with a covered bus loading area so seniors wouldn’t have to walk across icy pavement to reach the building.
