The United Learning Center (ULC), located on the corner of Maple Street and North Pearl Street in downtown Centralia, is nearing completion, and its opening is within sight.
The 17,900-square-foot early learning campus will include a subsidized Montessori preschool for 80 children run by the Bezos Academy, the Discover! Children’s Museum and the temporary clubhouse for the Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County’s after-school program.
Amy Buckler, Centralia deputy city manager and parks manager, told the Centralia City Council during its Tuesday meeting that the museum is anticipating a soft opening at the end of March. Larry McGee, chair of the Discover! Children’s Museum of Lewis County, confirmed that the target date is March 28.
The Bezos Academy’s preschool targets Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) families in the community and will launch in September 2026. The start date for the Boys & Girls Club’s clubhouse is unknown at this time but will open sometime in between March and September, Buckler said.
Buckler added that a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the entire project is anticipated in mid-spring. Details will be announced at a later date.
McGee pointed out the novelty of the project during a presentation to the city council.
“This combination of a Boys & Girls Club and the children’s museum and a very professional Montessori-like school exists in one place in America. It’s here. It doesn’t exist anywhere else,” he said. “We are breaking new ground and doing something very exciting here that doesn’t exist in America. I think that’s pretty terrific.”
The Centralia City Council unanimously approved two maintenance agreements for the ULC during its Tuesday meeting, one with the United Way of Lewis County and the other with Discover! Children’s Museum of Lewis County. Buckler told the council Tuesday that the agreements further clarify the roles and responsibilities between the involved parties.
The maintenance agreements are just for 2026, with the expectation that they will be updated at the end of the year and again in 2027 to factor in any unanticipated items.
United Way received funding from the Legislature in 2019 for the project, and two years later, the Bezos Academy covered 10 years of its own operating costs so that its programs can be fully subsidized. The project was also supported by fundraising and grants.
In 2020, the City of Centralia entered into an umbrella agreement with the United Way of Lewis County, Discover! Children’s Museum of Lewis County, and the Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County which outlined a joint undertaking among the parties to finance, construct and operate the ULC.
Subsequently, in 2021, the city entered into a ground lease agreement with the United Way which outlined roles and responsibilities of the parties. The ground lease agreement was amended in April 2024 and July 2025, and it specifies that after construction of the building, the city will become its owner and be responsible for maintenance. The lease also specifies that the city will collect rent to cover “the total cost and expenses paid or incurred…in connection with the ownership, operation, maintenance and repair of the property,” according to the city’s agenda report from the Tuesday meeting. United Way is currently managing the construction project.
Per the 2021 ground lease, United Way and Discover! will pay a base rent of $1 per year as well as additional rent, defined as the “total cost and expenses paid or incurred by lessor in connection with the ownership, operation, maintenance and repair of the property.” As part of the additional rent, the United Way will also pay taxes, state leasehold excise tax, and property insurance costs. The United Way plans to pass some of these costs onto its subtenants — the Bezos Academy and the Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County — who will also pay for their own utilities and other operating expenses. Subtenants will also provide their own janitorial services.
The city will have two tenants: Discover!, which will operate the children’s museum on the north side of the building, and the United Way, which will not occupy the premises but will rather sublease to its subtenants. The Discover! Children’s Museum will occupy 4,500 square feet, Bezos Academy will use 11,300 square feet, and the Boys & Girls Club will occupy 2,100 square feet.
McGee said members of the Centralia Rotary Club helped install exhibits, some of which were built by “local folks,” for the Discover! Children’s Museum last weekend. He added that the museum has conducted 140 sessions of outreach in local schools.
“That’s been really well-received. An important part of the children’s museum, the better ones around the county, is they are all vigorous about outreach activities,” McGee said. “You can’t just expect people to come to you. We have to go to them.”
McGee also pointed to how critical the support of the city council and staff have been in getting the ULC project underway.
“Your support has not been a nicety. It’s been critical,” he said. “This project wouldn’t be where we are today if you all hadn’t supported it the way that you have. We will not forget that. This is really an amazing project of all of us coming together and doing something that’s going to be a gem for the community and it is going to be important for students. We are learning-focused. We are not Chuck E. Cheese. We’re not about entertainment. We’re about educating kids.”
Annie Oien, executive director of United Way of Lewis County, said the Bezos Academy’s tuition-free early learning program will be invaluable to the community. The only eligibility requirement, she said, is that families make no more than 400% of the federal poverty level.
Oien said applications are now live for the Bezos Academy.
“The fact that the application is now open really validates the confidence in this project,” she said. “Eighty children will be chosen for this early-learning opportunity. They just have to be 3 or 4 by September of 2026.”
Councilor Kelly Smith Johnston remarked at how the ULC will solve multiple problems within the community, including addressing an early-learning shortage in the area.
“I get emotional every time I look at that building. I think about all the things that we’ve done here at the city to address the high poverty that’s in our community. This is number one,” she said.
Mayor Norm Chapman added that the ULC will soon become a landmark in Centralia.
“That building is going to become such a landmark that when people ask for directions, they can say, ‘Turn left at the dinosaurs.’ For generations, it’ll be part of Centralia,” Chapman said.
To learn more about the ULC, visit https://www.lewiscountyuw.com/united-learning-center.
Applications for the Bezos Academy for the 2026-27 school year must be submitted by 5 p.m. Monday, April 20 to be included in the lottery. Families will be notified of lottery outcomes by 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 5. To learn more about Bezos Academy Centralia, visit https://bezosacademy.org/schools/centralia-wa/.
