Under a multi-million-dollar plan, the cavernous and now-empty K2 building could be reborn as an Island-wide community hub housing the Vashon Health Center, Granny’s Attic, a child care center, indoor recreational facilities, a commercial kitchen and several Island nonprofits.

Richard Sontgerath, president of Heritage Group Ltd., a development firm specializing in the restoration and rehabilitation of older and historic properties, has signed a letter of intent with K2 Sports to purchase the 180,000-square-foot building, the largest commercial structure on the Island.

Under Sontgerath’s proposal, the former ski manufacturing site would be jointly owned by several different entities or investors, transforming it into a civic center that could draw Islanders of all ages and serve a wide range of Island needs. A new Vashon library would also be a part of the mix; the King County Library System has already made an offer on an 8,000-square-foot structure adjacent to the main building and remains interested in the site now that Sontgerath has stepped into the picture, library officials said Monday.

Sontgerath declined to discuss the terms of his agreement with K2, but those close to the deal say the price-tag to purchase the 18-acre site is in the millions. The letter of intent gives Sontgerath several months to find the financial and community support he needs to make the vision a reality.

The plan, however, is already garnering support. Emma Amiad, a real estate agent and community leader who initially spearheaded an investigation into how the K2 site could become a community asset, is working closely with Sontgerath on the plan, as is a handful of other Islanders.

And several Vashon entities — including Granny’s Attic and the Vashon Health Center — have already expressed interest in moving there.

“It would certainly provide a modern facility, which the clinic is desperately in need of,” said Bert Colburn, administrator of the Highline Medical Group, which manages the Vashon Health Center. “Overhead would be higher than at our current location, but that could be offset by higher volumes.”

“We’re definitely interested,” said Richard Lipke, business manager at Granny’s, a thrift store spilling over with goods at its current location at Sunrise Ridge. “We’ve taken acouple of tours. We’ve looked at what part we’re interested in. And now we just have to look at the numbers … to decide if it’s feasible or not.”

Sontgerath, an Islander whose Seattle-based firm has a 25-year history of transforming buildings into multi-use sites, said he is excited by the opportunity K2 represents. Last week, as he and Truman O’Brien, Sontgerath’s newly hired project manager, roamed through the building, Sontgerath spoke enthusiastically about the structure’s potential,

seemingly coming up with ideas on the spot. He sported a freshly minted hat with the words “K2 Commons” on it.

Asked how he’s feeling about the project, Sontgerath answered,“On a scale of one to 10, right around a dozen.”

“The opportunity for K2 is incredible for us and the entire community,” Sontgerath added.

Sontgerath’s plan is to divide the yawning structure into several discrete areas, selling portions of the building to private tenants, community groups or investors

acting on their behalf at prices that he says would be impossible to beat were the structure to be torn down and rebuilt.

Much of the building seems to lend itself to such an approach, he said.

The building, for instance, contains 10 4,000-square-foot

bays, each with their own outside entrance, which could be wholly owned by various entities. Skylights and additional windows would give the areas considerable light, he said.

Another 10,000 square feet would provide office space for a private tenant who has already shown keen interest in the site, Sontgerath said, declining to name the tenant. Then there are four “baby lofts,” 1,300-square feet areas for smaller outfits; a

2,000-square-feet room in the middle of the structure that he hopes to see become a child care center; 10,000 square feet that he’d like to see go to a private school;

and, at the heart of Sontgerath’s vision, 45,000 square feet for an indoor recreational area, replete with two tennis courts, basketball hoops and much more.

Sontgerath said he sees the “great room,” as he called it, as “the living room for the Vashon community.” The child care center he envisions would open onto

it, providing an opportunity for older people and young children to interact. And above the tennis courts would be a cafe, where people exercising could take a break and grab a healthy snack, he said.

Sontgerath has several other ideas about the expansive site. A large field next to the building, for instance, could be transformed into a community garden, and a large commercial kitchen — something several Islanders in the farming community have

hankered for — could provide a place for people to can their own produce, he said. And were the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank to move into the site, as Sontgerath hopes, he could envision people giving some of their canned goods to the food bank —

providing applesauce year-round, he said with a smile.

“It all makes sense,” he said.

“It’s going to get hard. But so far, it’s been fun. It’s been exhilarating fun.”

Sontgerath acknowledged that there are still many hurdles to overcome. The site is zoned for industrial use, he noted, which would have to be changed. What’s more, he said, King County is notoriously slow in its permitting process, which could throw a

wrench into the ambitious effort.

But K2 officials, knowing that permitting hurdles could slow the project down, have already said they’ll make allowances for such hold-ups, should they occur, he

said.

“They’ve given us time to do it,” he said.

Rep. Sharon Nelson, an Islander who works as King County Councilman Dow Constantine’s

chief of staff, said Constantine has been briefed about the project and will do what he can to support the necessary zoning changes. A new version of the Island’s comprehensive

plan includes language that allows the county to revisit the zoning for the K2 site next year, she added.

“Dow’s definitely supportive of keeping the K2 plan moving in the direction the community

wants it to go in,” she said.

It’s not clear, however, who would step forward to underwrite the costs of the centerpiece of Sontgerath’s plan — the recreational facility in the heart of the building. Sontgerath and O’Brien recently briefed the Vashon Park District’s board of commissioners in an executive session about the proposal.

David Hackett, who chairs the board, said it’s far too early for the commissioners to endorse a park presence in the building or to suggest they’d commit money to such a project.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no solid proposal before us at the moment,” he said. “We’d be looking for a whole lot of public input before we signed up for

anything.”

Sontgerath’s vision for the new site, meanwhile, has come as welcome news to Amiad. A

few months ago, Amiad had been asked by the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council to explore the community’s options at the site and, after she couldn’t find any interested parties to lead the way, had “pretty much buried it,” she said.

Then Sontgerath walked into her office, she said. “I was amazed. I was surprised. I was thrilled.”

Amiad noted that the plan is complex. “There’s plenty of opportunity for failure,” she said.

But the fact that Sontgerath is a professional developer, is deeply enthusiastic and has hired several other professionals to support the project gives her some hope that

he can bring this vision to fruition.

And it’s a vision that she says she shares as well — transforming this now-vacant manufacturing site into a civic center that has strong public support, room for private enterprise and space for some of the Island’s beloved nonprofits.

“The big thing is that we don’t lose this once-ever-in-a-community’s- lifetime opportunity,”