Senior center being evicted after nearly 40 years in Parkland. Can it find new home?

The Spana-Park Senior Center, which has provided support to senior citizens for 37 years, was issued an eviction notice Tuesday.

Closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Parkland senior center, 423 152nd St. E., never fully reopened after a roof leak, loss of county funding and an expired lease. The center served as a recreation and community space for dozens of seniors in the Spanaway and Parkland area.

The center’s landlord, Marymount LLC, said it terminated the senior center’s tenancy because it ceased operations, according to a complaint filed in Pierce County Superior Court on March 23. Marymount LLC served the center a notice to vacate on Feb. 7 that required the senior center to leave the premises on or before the end of February. According to the complaint, the center still has not vacated the premises, has failed to pay due rent and “also continues to refuse to work toward an orderly exit from the premises.”

Marymount LLC said the center was personally served the lease-termination notice and three-day notice to vacate through center director Beth King, who is authorized to accept service. The landlord is requesting judgment to terminate the lease and remove the center from the premises, as well as “all such other relief the Court deems appropriate.”

King has been vocal about her opposition to the eviction and the impact the center’s loss will have on the area, leaving seniors without a community space in Parkland.

She alleges Marymount LLC misled state officials to secure a $1 million grant for a new roof on the Marymount buildings in 2019. King said the company used the nonprofit senior center in its pitch to receive CARES Act funding for maintenance of a historic site but refused to repair damage incurred by roofers in October 2021 or pay for mold treatment in the kitchen, which did not allow the center to reopen.

“We are the only senior center in this part of the county. We cover Parkland, Spanaway, Roy, Graham, McKenna, Puyallup, South Hill, part of Tacoma,” King said in February, sitting at a table in the center, surrounded by moving boxes and plastic bags bulging with puzzles and games. “Yeah, they could go to another senior center. But if they wanted to go to another senior center, they would already be going to that other senior center.”

An attorney for Marymount LLC did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The News Tribune.

Spana-Park Senior Center has long history

The main buildings of the Marymount Museum and Spana-Park Senior Center were built in 1919 by the Sisters of St. Dominic. The sisters used the historic property as a military academy for boys before the school closed in 1975. It was acquired by the LeMay family in the 1980s.

According to court documents, the Spana-Park Senior Center first signed a lease with Marymount, LLC in 1998 and agreed to pay $925 a month in rent. Addendums to the lease were added in 2001 and 2005, and another was added in 2006 to raise the rent to $980.50 a month. In 2011 rent was increased to $1,050 a month. The original lease expired at the end of 2011 and the center was a month-to-month tenant until it received a notice to vacate by Feb. 28.

At the height of the pandemic, King said, the senior center delivered food to about 85 people every week. When the center was operational, seniors would come from all around to play games, join an exercise class, eat lunch, receive foot care or have a cup of coffee, King said. As COVID restrictions were lifted, King said, meal deliveries were reduced to about once a month.

“It’s a catch 22 – you can’t find funding if you’re not open. You can’t open if you don’t have funding,” King said. “So that’s been very difficult for us, but we pushed on to try and get us reopened.”

Jane Rulapaugh brought her mother Beatrice to the Spana-Park Senior Center every week for about five years until the center closed in March 2020. Rulapaugh said the center’s positive impact on her mother, who had dementia, was so powerful she started volunteering at the center when her mother died.

“She enjoyed bingo. She ate lunch there with them once a week. She attended the craft time that was twice a week. It was a good all-around facility for her to be at,” Rulapaugh said. “[King] always kept a close eye on her because my mom was also a diabetic who loved sweets. So she had everybody in the center, you know, kind of keeping an eye out for her, making sure she didn’t pick up a cookie as she walked three or four times by the cookies. I knew that she was in good hands while she was there, too. It was more than community, it was almost like taking her to a sister’s home.”

Rulapaugh said she planned to become a member of the center when it reopened now that she qualifies. If the center could find another location within a certain driving distance, Rulapaugh said she would consider going, “but I also know that there are other seniors that are kind of limited on their comfort zone as to how far they want to drive.”

Senior Center had funding troubles, missed deadlines

In the 2022-2023 budget, Pierce County allocated $44,000 to LeMay Collections at Marymount: $25,000 for rent/lease costs and $20,000 for kitchen improvements to the Spana-Park Senior Center.

The county set aside an additional $35,500 for Spana-Park Senior Center to offset the cost of conducting a financial audit and creating a five-year business plan if the County Council received a report of the audit and plan no later than June 30, 2022. Upon receiving a written report of the center’s progress in following the plan by June 30, 2023, the council then could authorize another $35,500 for operational expenses, according to county documents.

At a Pierce County Human Services meeting on July 19, the council said it had not received the audit or business plan from the Spana-Park Senior Center. At that time, King told the council she was having trouble finding someone who could conduct an audit of a nonprofit and had not started work on a business plan.

“I know this has been a challenging path that you’ve been walking to try and navigate the systems that are in place … And I know that many of the things that you’re doing are to protect [seniors’] health. But it’s frustrating when our other senior centers have figured out a way to open doors in some capacity,” said council member Jani Hitchen at the meeting. “I know that looking to the future, it’s a challenge for me to want to allocate additional funds or more funds to something that just isn’t working. … We have to be fiscally responsible. We’re using taxpayer dollars and grant dollars to support senior services in that area. So just understanding that we’ve provided you a path and we’re just not seeing the path being followed.”

Future of the space uncertain

On Thursday, King said the center is looking for an attorney, a new location and funding to accommodate the move.

King said the center also needs help packing and sorting and is planning to host an eviction sale April 14-15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone interested in volunteering or donating can contact the center at spanaparkseniorcenter@gmail.com or 253-537-4854, King said.

An attorney for Marymount LLC did not immediately respond to inquiries from The News Tribune about Marymount LLC’s plans for the space.