Next Steps for Former Gault MS Campus

Since the closure of Gault Middle School in 2009, Tacoma Public Schools has continuously sought solutions to activate the space at the former Gault site. With the end of the most recent effort to revitalize the former school, TPS is moving forward with a demolition permit with plans to develop the site for district purposes.  

As the district finalizes plans over the next few months, there will be regular updates to the community and opportunities for additional feedback.

Read the news release

Background

Gault Middle School was closed in 2009 due to declining enrollment in the district. Students from McIlvaigh and Gault middle schools were consolidated into a new building, First Creek Middle school, and the site was declared surplus and the district began looking for buyers.

Initially, potential reuses at the site were severely limited by its use as a community pool operated by Metro Parks Tacoma until it was replaced by the Eastside Community Center facilities in Fall 2018. Underlying property use restrictions also limited what could be done on the site.

Several uses have been explored over the years, from veterans housing to, more recently, potential development by Tacoma Housing Authority in 2020 and this latest proposal from the Chaffey Building Group in 2022.

Escalating construction costs and difficulty finding funding sources for development plans have been at the center of the two most recent development attempts to not move forward.