About 60 area residents attended the Crown Hill Project community meeting to hear three speakers spell out the preliminary financial realities of the purchase and maintenance of that 3.4-acre lot, proposed playground, and school buildings.

Financial data was broken down in an "acquisition/restoration study" handed out to the audience. The figures, which included rents collected, interior and exterior square footage, and potential government donors, were used as a jumping off point for discussion.

Catherine Weatbrook, a member of Small Faces board of directors, and designated spokesperson for the Crown Hill Activities Center, said that if Small Faces acquires the property, an agreement could be reached for the ownership to be transferred into the name of a newly formed neighborhood association. Small Faces Child Development Center, the leaseholder, operates out of the surplused school, which closed its doors in 1978. The city has granted Small Faces the right of first refusal to purchase the property at a negotiated price in the area of its appraised value of $7.3 million, a number established by its current owner, the Seattle School District.

The city has offered a million dollars to help Small Faces purchase Crown Hill as part of its surplused school challenge grant program. Also, the Pro-Parks Levy will contribute approximately one million dollars. King County may match the Pro-Parks Levy contribution through a public land trust program. And based on the $137,000 in annual rental income, Small Faces is in strong position for a $900,000 loan. Therefore, Weatbrook, and those she represents, are nearly half way to the property's asking price.

"Every million dollars is progress," said Weatbrook, with a trace of levity, well aware that a few million dollars more will be needed to bridge the gap.

One audience member said her neighbors just sold their house in Crown Hill for $700,000, and therefore the numbers presented in the acquisition/restoration study don't seem out of line.

Weatbrook said the property contains some expensive, covert challenges.

"There needs to be asbestos removal and costly updating with the heating system, and one to two buried oil tanks were discovered on the property."

Then there is the worn gymnasium ceiling and roof hanging over the heads of those attending the meeting, and you've got the ingredients for a viable, yet complicated, real estate deal. Weatbrook hopes the school district will make some financial allowances for repair and waste removal issues being discovered.

Weatbrook introduced the two other speakers, Stephen Reilly, urban project manager of the Cascade Land Conservancy, and Chuck DePew, a Seattle representative for the National Development Council.

Reilly, retained by the city to help create a strategic action plan for the property's acquisition, went over a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the acquisition as stated in a handout the audience received. He asked for their impressions and suggestions.

"Strengths" included "Strong and broad community support." "Weaknesses" included "Building's condition." In the "Opportunities" column, "Historic Designation potential" was mentioned. And under the "Threats" column was "Value of land and possible development."

No one in the room seemed to want another condo development in their backyard.

"Thirty percent of the building's area is taken up by hallways, corridors, and other unrentable areas," said DePew, who helped organize the study, and will help Small Faces find funding. "These large spaces require heat and don't support themselves through rental income. In school building conversions we see challenges with inefficient floor plans.

"Increase rents, reduce utility expenses, and keep the character of the building. That's what you want here," he said, and that the study showed that current rent generated is $4.41 per square foot, while the general retail market ranges from $18 to $25, illustrating increased rental potential.

He suggested trying to designate the building a city landmark to avoid city taxes. He acknowledged that tearing down the buildings, or a portion of them, might be more viable. "If renovation costs $200 per square foot, and new-built construction costs $125, well ... ."

Weatbrook asked the audience to avoid thinking worst-case scenario and instead think positively.

"We are just at the beginning stages, and this property is a potential hub of a truly vibrant community. The city is very supportive. If they weren't returning my phone calls, I'd feel bad. We may be talking years, not months, but I think we really, truly, can do this."

Steve Shay may be reached at steves@robinsonnews.com