The Laurelhurst Blog received this information regarding the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus intending to place the land adjoining Villa Academy for sale.
February 11, 2022Dear Members of the Villa Family and Community,
Parents at Villa Academy play an integral role in our community. Villa Academy is a special place, where students thrive in a compassionate atmosphere, inspiring confidence and lifelong enthusiasm for learning. This could not be achieved without the dedication and commitment of our parents and families. Our goal is to keep you connected to the current goings-on at our school, to ensure our community remains connected, on and off-campus.
Yesterday we learned that the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus intend to place the land adjoining Villa Academy for sale. Their reasoning for the sale is to generate support for at-risk women, children, refugees and immigrants. While we were initially disheartened to hear the news, we understand their decision and the critical missions this funding will provide and our relationship rooted in shared values will remain unchanged through this process.
We are sharing this with you in the spirit of transparency and belief that you, as alumni, family and friends of Villa Academy, are stakeholders in this process. We are in the beginning phases of a years-long process, but the importance of our community and the commitment to educational excellence we share with you is unwavering.
The potential sale will raise new questions for many in our community. We want to be clear: the education experience at Villa is not changing, now or ever. We also want to note that our lease to use the land will remain through 2025. There will be no immediate changes. Here are the facts to understand today:
* In 1977, a group of dedicated and visionary parents incorporated Villa Academy as an independent, Catholic school and entered into a lease agreement with the Sisters to use the school buildings and outdoor grounds.
* In 2007, Villa Academy purchased, and to this day maintains direct ownership of, the land on which all our core facilities are located, including the Preschool and K-8 school buildings, gymnasium, multipurpose field, playground and west lawn. This land is not included in the planned sale or impacted in any way, nor is the integrity of our core educational programs.
* We continued to lease the 21 acres of ancillary land below the multipurpose field and gymnasium, which includes the outdoor learning pavilion, trails, and waterfront areas. Villa Academy’s lease on this land will remain in place through August 2025, regardless of any change of ownership.
* Once sold, permitting and development of the property will likely still take many more years.
There will be virtual Zoom sessions hosted by the Sisters to discuss future land use from 5:00-6:00 p.m. on March 1st and 6:00-7:00 p.m. on March 3rd. Representatives from Villa will also listen to these meetings as we continue collaborative dialogue with the Sisters through this process. You can learn more and register here.
Our commitment to excellence in whole-child education—grounded in fostering compassionate hearts and confident minds for our current and future students—remains unchanged.
Please reach out to me with any questions. Again, we are in the beginning phases of a years-long process. You will hear more from our leadership and staff in the coming weeks and months as we continue on this journey together.
Go here for more information.
With deep gratitude,
Julie Thenell Grasseschi, Interim Head of School
Vacant 21 acres in Laurelhurst to be sold
East of the Villa Academy in Laurelhurst, at 5215 N.E. 50th St., there's a tree-covered swath of land extending down to Lake Washington. Those 21.7 acres are now going on the market, almost surely meaning subdivision into single-family home sites. Even so, expect the neighbors to protest.
The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus announced Friday the property would go on the market. Brokers weren't named by the MSC.
22 acres in Seattle are about to hit the market. Will the site become more housing?
An expansive wooded plot of land on the western bank of Lake Washington will soon hit the market for sale, raising the prospect of a new single-family housing development in Seattle and prompting questions about what type of homes would best serve a growing city with a housing shortage.
The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus plan to list the 21.7-acre parcel located just south of Northeast 50th Street, the group said Friday. The Sisters have not yet announced a price, but the land is zoned for single-family homes, meaning it could draw interest from developers looking to tap into the hot housing market.
The announcement called the sale “part of a global realigning of the Missionary Sisters’ assets to ensure they are serving those most in need.” The land being sold does not include the nearby Villa Academy.
In Seattle, where most land is already built up to what current zoning rules allow, a potential new single-family housing development is rare. In a neighborhood where the median home price is nearly $2 million, the prospect is also likely to spark a debate about the types of housing allowed in some of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods.
“Twenty-one point seven acres in Seattle being an invisibly gated community — that’s not fair housing,” said Laura Loe, executive director of Share the Cities, which advocates for greater density and affordable housing.
Colleen McAleer, president of the Laurelhurst Community Club, said the sale came as a surprise, but argued it’s too soon to speculate about what type of development could take place. Any buyer should balance development of the land with protection of tree canopy, she said.
“Most folks in the neighborhood understand there’s a housing shortage. What we hear from most of our neighbors is they’re fine with additions of things, carefully placed and well thought out and that follow the codes as far as height,” McAleer said.
About a decade ago, Laurelhurst neighbors resisted a proposed development by Seattle Children’s, citing traffic and other concerns, and the hospital agreed to scale back its expansion plans.
Just a mile away from the Sisters site, plans for a single-family development at the former site of the Talaris Research Institute have drawn similar questions. Some neighbors worried about development of the “oasis” of open space. Loe and others saw the site as a missed opportunity that should include affordable and workforce housing.
The city has not yet issued construction permits for the Talaris site, but given long timelines for land-use planning and zoning changes, neither site is likely to be rezoned or used for denser housing, Loe said.
“We’re not going to prevent this from being mansions because all those pieces were set in motion 10 years ago,” Loe said of the Sisters site. “If people wanted to make it so this land could be … more affordable than McMansions in Laurelhurst, we’d need a time machine.”
“People need to stop seeing rezoning as a developer giveaway. Rezoning here would have meant more fairness for more people,” Loe said.
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