Community Education
Peninsula School District buys another property near aging high school
Peninsula School District has added another property to its growing inventory of recent real estate purchases near Peninsula High School.
The school board on Tuesday, April 21, approved purchasing a 1.46-acre property at 6412 144th St. NW, west of and adjacent to the Peninsula High School campus. The property includes a 1,358-square-foot, single-story home. The district will pay $669,358.19 (including just shy of $20,000 in fees). The property is assessed at $547,500.
The seller is a Lakebay resident.
The district has no immediate plans for the property but considers this a “strategic” purchase, according to Facilities Director Patrick Gillespie.
An image from the Pierce County Assessor’s Office website shows the house near Peninsula High School the school district purchased.
January property purchase
The district purchased a 0.63-acre property on 144th St. NW in January. That parcel is west of and adjacent to the property at 6412 144th St. NW. Like the recently approved purchase, that parcel also includes a modest (1,140-square-foot), single-story home.
The district paid $491,973.30, including fees, for the 0.63-acre property.
CFO Ashley Murphy in January said the property might be used for “future school programming that would move some district programming onto the PHS campus.”
Peninsula School District purchased the property highlighted in pink, directly adjacent to Peninsula High School.
No immediate plans
The district now says it is holding both properties for unspecified future use.
“At this time, there are no specific plans for the properties recently purchased adjacent to Peninsula School District land,” Gillespie said in an email to Gig Harbor Now. “While no immediate use is planned, the district recognizes the strategic value of acquiring adjacent properties, particularly for space-constrained sites such as Peninsula High School. Delaying such acquisitions could result in higher costs in the future or the potential loss of the opportunity.”
The district’s Long-range Facilities Advisory Committee says Peninsula High and Gig Harbor High School should be the highest priorities for large-scale maintenance, repair or replacement.
Gillespie said the district will evaluate the existing structures for their potential usefulness.
The district expects to make “a clearer determination” about whether it will retain or remove the buildings by the end of the year, Gillespie said.
Investment proceeds used
Peninsula School District bought both properties using investment proceeds from its capital facilities fund. The district invested proceeds from its 2019 bond until it needed the money for various stages of school construction and renovations, according to CFO Ashley Murphy. The bond funded two new elementary schools, two replacement elementary schools and major renovations at two middle schools.
The “state match,” money the state allocates to the district to replace aging buildings, provided another source of funding, Murphy said. Money from the bond goes only to bond projects, however.
“These are not bond dollars,” Murphy said, of funds used for the two property sales in 2026. “The bond dollars have been fully expended.”
Property sales in 2024
Peninsula School District in 2024 purchased several parcels totaling 20.24 acres from Gig Harbor-based Rush Companies. The district paid $6.24 million for eight parcels, most of them directly across 62nd Avenue from the high school.
The sale curtailed Rush Companies’ plan to build a large residential neighborhood there.
In 2025, the district exercised an option in the 2024 purchase and sale agreement to buy an additional 4.89-acre strip just south of the high school for $260,000.
That brings the total real estate acquired by the district since 2024 to just more than 27 acres.