Trinity Lutheran College ready to make a move
The Issaquah, Washington, school is relocating closer to Seattle
After a lengthy period of discernment, and two false starts, an independent Lutheran college in the Seattle area has at last decided where it wants to land.
Trinity Lutheran College, formerly Lutheran Bible Institute of Seattle, has been located space for several years on a wooded campus in Issaquah, Washington, west of Seattle. In an effort to conserve financial resources, and with a desire to move closer to the Seattle metro area (Issaquah is considered by some to be remote), the school began exploring options in the north Seattle suburbs.
At one point the school, which currently enrolls 125 students and employs 70 full- and part-time faculty, made a tentative decision to build a new facility on the same city block as Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynn-wood, a north Seattle suburb. That agreement later came unraveled.
Trinity had also considered moving to a two-building site in Everett, a suburban community north of Seattle. That plan proved unworkable.
On May 10 the school’s administration announced they intend to lease space in another downtown Everett location. The school will be located in what is known as the Port Gardner Building, a 66,000 square foot, five-story office building connected by a skyway to a 375 stall parking garage.
Remodeling work is currently underway. Dr. John Stamm, Trinity’s president, said the hope is that the facility can be ready for classes in September 2008.
The renovation is expected to be concluded in stages. Initially, there will be completed a temporary chapel, a student commons area and classrooms. A second phase may include design of a permanent chapel in space that was once a theater.
Around 100 of the parking spaces in the parking garage will be reserved for the college. The remainder will be made available for public use.
A decision about how and where to house students is yet to be made.
By moving to Everett, Trinity opens itself to the opportunity of absorbing students from another small college which is closing. Puget Sound Christian College an-nounced on May 3 it was ending operations after 57 years.
Trinity’s administration has indicated that it will accept credits from Puget Sound students who choose to transfer.
Trinity began a formal search for a new campus in July 2005. A process of discernment determined that the school’s forested 40.5 acre campus in Issaquah was too large for the school’s needs, and too far from Seattle.
Minneapolis-based Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) established a branch school in Seattle in 1944. The name Lutheran Bible Institute of Seattle was changed to Trinity Lutheran College in 1999.
