After nearly three years of delays, United Learning Center construction set in Centralia

After the groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 8, 2021, nobody anticipated nearly three years of delays preventing construction of the United Learning Center, a new 12,800-square-foot educational facility in downtown Centralia.

“It’s been a long time coming,” United Learning Center Project Manager Todd Chaput said during the April 23 Centralia City Council meeting.

When completed, the United Learning Center will be located on the northwest corner of North Pearl and Maple streets in an area that is currently a city parking lot.

“We haven’t had to tow anybody, but that will start next week. So if you park over there, be warned, next week is when they will start mobilizing on May 1,” Chaput added.

The United Learning Center is a joint project to build a new educational facility involving the City of Centralia, the United Way of Lewis County, the Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County, Cascade Community Health, Discover! Children’s Museum and the Bezos Academy.

One of the main reasons for the construction delays, aside from the pandemic, was not being able to secure federal funding, Chaput told the councilors.

“We’ve been waiting on the feds to pass the budget. They didn’t pass the budget, but they passed a small portion of it, and we were included in that portion,” Chaput said. “The funds came from (U.S.) Senator (Patty) Murray’s office, and we worked closely with (U.S. Rep. Marie) Gluesenkamp Perez’s office to ensure those funds passed as soon as possible.”

He added, last month — working with Centralia City Councilor Sarah Althauser and state Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia — he was able to secure additional state funding for the United Learning Center.

The federal budget package passed in March included $4 million in funding for the project secured by Murray. The additional state funding secured by Abbarno totaled $1.95 million. It was included in Washington state’s $1.3 billion supplemental capital budget.

“The funding looks good. We have enough money to begin the (United Learning Center) portion and have that open in a timely fashion that meets the timeline of the Bezos Academy,” Chaput said.

The Bezos Academy needs around 16 months to find and hire teachers and staff, Chaput stated. Currently, the academy is hoping to have the United Learning Center fully staffed and open by September of 2025.

“Bezos is super excited to continue,” he said.

Additionally, Chaput said the Bezos Academy has agreed to amend its lease to start in 2025 instead of the original 2022 start date.

Once open, the United Learning Center will offer at least 80 children free early learning education opportunities. The children will be from low-income families.

Along with getting an education, students also might have access to mental health resources as Cascade Community Health has received a $100,000 grant to help complete the inside of the United Learning Center and use it as an outreach hub.

“Bezos is still moving forward with a good chunk of the cost for the playground,” Chaput said.

The city parking lot where the United Learning Center will be located is where city staff set up and operate the sandbagging stations during flood events. Centralia Public Works Director Kim Ashmore said sandbags will be available elsewhere in the future.

“We have used Center Street previously, in between Tower (Avenue) and Pearl (Street), as a sandbag station,” Ashmore said. “There’s also the parking lot behind the Bethel Church that we’ve used. Those are two options. Or we just say, ‘No more floods.’” 

For more information on the United Learning Center, visit https://www.lewiscountyuw.com/united-learning-center.