Main Street Campus taking on new life

The remaking of the old Lynden Middle School, now the Main Street Campus, has begun. A construction project to repurpose the Main Street Campus into district office space and classrooms for early childhood education kicks off the final phase of a project that started roughly five years ago.

In 2015, voters passed a construction bond in the Lynden School District to construct a new middle school on a new site and replace Fisher Elementary School. In 2018, the new middle school opened, and the old middle school facility was vacated. During the 2015 bond campaign, the district communicated that proceeds from the sale of district-owned land — four acres on Glenning Street and the ball fields behind the old middle school — would be used to repurpose the old middle school into early childhood classrooms, space for district administration offices and possible space to partner with community agencies.  

In looking back on the materials from the bond in 2015, phase II of the long-range facility plan proposed creating a community learning center at the old middle school.  

“The Community Learning Center would provide space for pre-school, school and community training space for large groups, and school district students’ services and administration offices.  There are also opportunities for partnerships with community groups such as the Boys and Girls Club and community recreation.”

In 2019, the Glenning Street property was sold to the City of Lynden and the ball fields have been put up for sale. With the sale of the Glenning property and the proposed sale of the ball fields, the district is moving forward with a construction project to create four early childhood classrooms on the west end of the facility and configure space for offices to accommodate district business, human resources, teaching and learning, categorical support and operations. The former library will be transformed into a board meeting room and space for teacher development and training.  

The district office space at the high school, approximately 2,500 square feet, will be vacated and made available for use by the high school staff and students once district staff moves into the new Main Street Campus location. 

King Architecture developed the design for the new space and Tiger Construction was the low bidder — four construction companies submitted bids — on the project at $2.67 million.