The old Keystone Elementary School, located at 612 S. McDonald Road in Spokane Valley, is due for an upgrade to meet the needs of the building's new owners, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County, says CEO Wendy Drum.

The former Central Valley School District property is about to undergo a $6 million tenant-improvement project that will increase accessibility for youth participating in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Spokane County's Club at Keystone, which began operating there in 2020, as well as students and families in the school district, says Drum.

"We're not looking to create this fancy, amazing brand-new facility, just upgrading and updating to meet more standards of accessibility and create a truly barrier-proof club experience for any kid who wants to come," Drum says.

Construction is expected to begin this week on the first phase of the renovation project, which is focused on the replacement of the entire roof on the eight-sided building. Initial work also will include the replacement of windows and exterior doors, she says.

The roof replacement is expected to take between six and eight weeks to complete. Additional improvements to the structure will be determined based on community input and student needs. 

Ideally, all building upgrades will be completed by the start of the 2026-27 school year, but Drum notes that the timeline for completion will depend on the club's fundraising efforts and community support.

"Our biggest hurdle right now is the fundraising aspect," she says.

Phase-one improvements have an estimated cost of $1.4 million. The organization has received a grant of just over $1 million from the Washington state Department of Commerce to begin improvements for the project, with remaining costs covered by club fundraising efforts.

Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, is the lead general contractor for the tenant improvements. Spokane Valley-based Icon Corp., which does business as Icon Roofing, is the contractor for the roof-replacement project.

Future work on the building includes the replacement of a failing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system and some other needs throughout the space.

"We just really want to make that current structure as available and safe and accessible as we possibly can, because every kid deserves a really cool place to go and just have fun," Drum says. 

Construction work isn't expected to disturb programming at the property, where the Boys & Girls Clubs of Spokane County began holding club activities during the COVID-19 pandemic at the request of the school district. The organization shares the space with Central Valley School District's Student and Family Engagement Center, which occupies about 15% of the building.

"With our club structure, we put our kids into age groups we call a cohort model, and those separate classrooms really enhance that model," says Drum of the building's interior.

When students returned to school for in-person learning, Central Valley School District kept the partnership with the youth organization going to continue providing a place for kids to go after school and during school breaks. A few years later, when the school district decided to sell the property, Spokane Valley-based Modern Electric Water Co. stepped in to buy it for the purpose of donating the building to the Boys & Girls Clubs, Drum says.

"It really turned into a strong partnership with Central Valley," she says. "It was kind of an experimental situation at first, in response to COVID, and now it's blossomed into this full-fledged building with a club in it, a donation, and all these amazing things just falling into place." 

Modern Electric Water Co. donated a portion of the 9-acre Spokane Valley property to the Boys and Girls Clubs last June, tax records show. The youth organization now owns the 36,000-square-foot building at the southeast corner of the lot, and Modern Electric has retained ownership of nearly five acres of vacant open green space at the site. 

The Club at Keystone serves youth in grades K-12 throughout the school year and has an average daily attendance between 100 and 120 youth. The club also runs a summer program, that was at capacity last year, she says. 

In addition to the Club at Keystone, Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County operates three clubs in the community. The Northtown Club, at 544 E. Providence, on Spokane's North Side; Lisa Sitles-Gyllenhammer Club, at 13120 N. Pittsburg, in the Mead area; and Ness Elementary Club, at 9612 E. Cataldo, in Spokane Valley.

Project update:

*A new industrial park development proposed in North Spokane County has been approved to move forward by the city of Deer Park. William Griffin, of Spokane Valley, is the project applicant for Stag Industrial Park, a light-industrial development proposed at 2101 E. Sixth, in Deer Park, according to project information on file with the Washington state Environmental Policy Act Register. 

A total of 43 lots of varying sizes are proposed at the 101-acre vacant property, which will be used for future manufacturing, light industrial, warehousing, and commercial office use. A mix of possible tenants is unknown, however, 1-acre lots will have space to accommodate 10,000-square-foot buildings; 1.5-acre lots could support 15,000-square-foot facilities; 2-acre lots will support 20,000-square-foot structures; and 3-acre lots or larger will hold 40,000-square-foot buildings. One of the lots is expected to have 112,000 square feet of building area, preliminary project information shows.

Permit application information has yet to be filed for the project with the city of Deer Park. An estimated construction cost and contractor information are not listed on environmental records for the development.