As students and teachers are getting adjusted to the new Panther Lake Elementary School, district plans to move ahead with sale of the old building may have hit a snag.
It turns out that part of the land on which the school was built is donated with a clause that if the land is no longer being used for a school, it would revert to previous owners.
“We’ve found there’s a 103-year-old donation agreement that needs to be rectified before the property can be sold,” said Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Fred High.
High said information about the donated parcel surfaced after the purchase of the new Panther Lake Elementary property, but said it probably would not have changed the plan because the new site is a “much better” location for a school.
However, the agreement is something of an impediment to the sale of the property, money from which is including in planning documents as a source of funding for future capital improvement.
High said the delay may affect the timing of future capital projects.
According to High, the district first learned of the donated acre this spring and has ben working with the district’s legal team to figure everything out, since the original donor has since died and the estate is now in the hands of more than one relative.
According to King County records, the parcel is appraised at $3.2 million, with $1.5 million for the land and an additional $1.7 million for the buildings.
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