3 West Seattle landmarks get $ boost from Building for Culture

(WSB photo from February)
Three landmark buildings in West Seattle are getting a boost from a county cultural-grant program.

(SW Seattle Historical Society photo from May: Dennis Schilling, Alki Homestead owner, with logs for restoration)
Here’s the announcement from West Seattle’s County Councilmember Joe McDermott, one day before county and cultural leaders gather to celebrate the list of grants that includes these three:

Renovation of the Admiral Theater and restoration of the Alki Homestead highlight a list of the projects in West Seattle and throughout King County that will receive funding to help maintain their buildings and preserve the arts and heritage programs that are held inside.

“As a lifelong West Seattle resident, I grew up going to the Admiral Theatre and Alki Homestead,” said Council Vice Chair Joe McDermott. “I am proud to promote the rich cultural history in West Seattle through the Building for Culture grant program.”

The Admiral Theater received $95,000 towards a renovation that will see the number of screens double from 2 to 4. The 111 year old Alki Homestead was awarded $83,000 towards its complete restoration, after a fire destroyed it in 2009.

The funding for maintenance, repairs, and preservation were allocated from the Building for Culture Program and unanimously approved by the County Council. Building for Culture is a partnership between King County and 4Culture, King County’s cultural services agency, using bonds backed by the hotel-motel tax to build, maintain, expand, preserve, and improve new and existing cultural facilities.

After the Council approved the creation of the Building for Culture Program, 4Culture put out a request for proposals to nonprofit arts, heritage and cultural organizations and eligible public agencies, as well as owners of national-, state-, or local-designated or eligible landmark properties. 4Culture then convened independent peer panels composed of arts, heritage, and preservation professionals, and other community representatives to review applications and make the final selections.

Facilities receiving funding in West Seattle are:

Admiral Cinema LLC – Admiral Theater Renovation – $95,000
Delridge Neighborhood Development Association – Elevate Youngstown – $100,000
Dennis Schilling – Restoring the Alki Homestead – $83,000 $45,190 (correction from CM McDermott’s office on 11/24/2015)

The bonds supporting these projects are made possible by early retirement of the Kingdome debt. State law requires that hotel-motel tax revenues King County collects this year after repayment of the Kingdome debt be directed to arts and cultural programs.

Read more about the grant program here.

14 Replies to "3 West Seattle landmarks get $ boost from Building for Culture"

  • AmandaKH November 23, 2015 (5:58 pm)

    This is FANTASTIC news! Wow!

  • Hey November 23, 2015 (6:12 pm)

    Another tax that keeps on giving. If the intended purpose was intended to repay bonds and the bonds are retired the tax should end, instead it turns into someone’s flush fund.

  • West Seattle Hipster November 23, 2015 (6:15 pm)

    Great news!

  • kumalavula November 23, 2015 (6:22 pm)

    while some may welcome all the growth around west seattle, i am more than happy to see some money invested in places of historical and/or sentimental importance. i’ve lived in seattle since 1993 and can remember when the typical pedestrian crossing at the junction “walk all ways with walk” crosswalk was well over 65 (and some even had walkers!) i bet they could tell us all about change and i, for one, am happy to see some money poured into keeping some of our peninsula’s beloved places alive and thriving.

  • JanS November 23, 2015 (6:54 pm)

    Good deal !

  • Curtis November 23, 2015 (7:52 pm)

    This money comes from the success of Century Link Field. So if you hated the passage of that stadium and felt there was no benefit to you at all, this should help you feel better.

    At any rate, I now have this urge to eat fried chicken. Hope they get that homestead open soon.

  • LyndaB November 23, 2015 (11:17 pm)

    Hooray, DNDA! Great news for Youngstown. I attended 6th grade when Cooper Elementary was there. Yearsssss ago.

  • Twicksea November 24, 2015 (12:06 am)

    The funds awarded in this program were sourced from lodging (aka hotel/motel) tax. Arts, cultural & heritage facilities and programs help attract visitors to the region, and investing a small portion of the tax revenues generated by visitors back into preserving these places in our community makes good sense to me.

  • FreeRangeAuthor November 24, 2015 (1:10 am)

    I need cultural grants to support my science fiction magazine subscriptions. And so I can buy tickets to the new Star Wars movie in IMAX – at least 3 times.

  • Greg November 24, 2015 (2:32 am)

    It’s great the see the Admiral get some love!

  • Admiral California November 24, 2015 (7:17 am)

    Out-of-town visitors pay a tax to help renovate Seattle’s heritage buildings – at NO cost to the residents of Seattle – and a handful of whiners still manage to complain about it. Fortunately, the majority of Seattleites still don’t want to turn into a low-tax Utopia like Alabama.

  • sam-c November 24, 2015 (9:07 am)

    That is wonderful news!
    Though I am surprised that Youngstown needs $ 100,000 to ‘elevate.’ What does that mean? Wasn’t Youngstown fully renovated and restored recently? (recently as in like within the last 10 years-which is recent in building lifetimes)

    I am sure WSB knows.

    e.t.a- 2006
    http://walshconstructionco.com/our-work/youngstown-cultural-arts-center-historic-cooper-school/

    • WSB November 24, 2015 (9:18 am)

      I haven’t found the details of the Youngstown project yet; will add if/when I get that info.

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