With the Vancouver City Council eying a proposal for a mixed-use building with a grocery store on the long-vacant Block 10, school officials say they’re still seeking to build a magnet elementary school in downtown Vancouver.
The city council voted Monday to enter into negotiations with Gramor Development of Tualatin, Ore., which submitted a proposal to build a mixed-use development on the empty Block 10 in downtown. The proposal by the company, which is developing the city’s waterfront, included a 250-unit apartment building with a ground-floor grocery store.
But a second proposal by LSW Architects on behalf of Vancouver Public Schools included a K-5 public school of arts and innovation, expanding on similar magnet offerings by the district.
Just up the street from downtown is the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics on 3101 Main St., and at Washington State University’s Vancouver campus in Salmon Creek is the district’s science and technology high school, Vancouver iTech Preparatory School.
“We’re wanting to capitalize on the creative economy that’s emerging in the downtown core area,” said Todd Horenstein, assistant superintendent of facilities support for the district.
Block 10 is in the heart of downtown Vancouver, bordered by Columbia, Washington, Eighth and Ninth streets. LSW Architects’ proposal for a 237,642-square-foot mixed-use building included the school, as well as office space, an early learning center, street-level retail and underground and above-ground parking.
But city officials said Gramor’s proposal better met the needs of downtown, where residents have long been clamoring for a grocery store.
Construction of a so-called “school of choice” that could have housed up to 700 students in downtown was included in the district’s $458 million bond proposal, which voters approved in February. A preliminary project schedule for the bond shows the district aiming to begin work in 2018.
“We’re still interested in constructing a downtown school, an urban school,” Horenstein said. “The need is still there.”
Horenstein said it’s too soon to say where the district might consider proposing the campus instead. The district is working with LSW Architects and the city to identify alternative sites, he said.
“We’re pretty early on in that stage,” he said.
