School District sells Osborn Property

Cascade School District superintendent Tracey Beckendorf-Edou recently signed the closing papers for the sale of the Osborn property. This is for the Osborn school building and playground, but the district still owns the administrative building and the tennis courts.

The City of Leavenworth purchased the property, which was appraised at $719,000. The City of Leavenworth had a credit of $100,000, based on a memorandum of understanding in 2016 when the skatepark was rebuilt. Thus, the City’s price was $619,000.

“After we deduct some costs associated with separating the Osborn half of the property from the district office half of the property, we will put the money towards the bond that the community supported for building and renovating schools,” said Beckendorf-Edou. “That was the promise made to the community in 2016, and we intend to keep that promise.”

Although no stipulations are in place for how the City can use the property, public input was given at a forum last year as well as one a couple months ago. Residents overwhelmingly would like to see it kept for public use as green space.

This ends almost a century of ownership by the Cascade School District. The land was purchased over time, with the first sale of the northern lots taking place in 1928 for $169.59. The old school, which continues to be the district office, was built in 1945, while Osborn was built in 1955. Both were renovated in 1984.