After years of planning and fundraising, Vashon Allied Arts (VAA) will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its multi-million dollar arts center next week.
VAA will hold a groundbreaking for the Vashon Center for the Arts at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. Islanders are invited to bring shovels to participate in the event, where there will also be entertainment and snacks to mark the occasion.
The event is purely ceremonial, VAA director Molly Reed noted last week, as actual construction on the building will likely begin next month. Reed said the nonprofit had hoped to get construction permits from King County by now, but is still ironing out some final details and expects to receive permits the first or second week of November.
It made sense to hold the groundbreaking now, Reed said, as fences will go up and construction will begin quickly after VAA has permits in hand.
“It feels great. It feels terrific,” Reed said of being so close to construction.
VAA is also close to completing fundraising for the $16.9 million arts center. It recently completed its $2.5 million public fundraising campaign when it rounded out a push to bring in $250,000 to match an anonymous donation of the same size. The organization is now looking to bring in less than $1 million it expects will come from grants and foundations. Reed said she’s confident the final funds will be raised by the time the center is expected to be complete, late next year. She noted that waiting on construction would mean facing escalating costs as well.
“We still have money to raise, but we are so close that the board is deciding we can’t wait any longer,” she said.
Ty Peterson, at the county’s Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER), said the department is waiting to get a couple small pieces of information from VAA representatives before it grants construction permits. Assuming VAA submits those items in a timely fashion, he said, the nonprofit should be able to start construction next month.
“It’s not yet approved, but it’s very close,” he said.
