New $40 million preschool and community playground are coming to Thurston County
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- School board awards $40M contract for LEAF near Marvin Road SE.
- 45,000‑sq‑ft facility with 18 classrooms serving about 600 students.
- Funded largely by 2024 capital levy; construction starts late March, opens fall 2027.
North Thurston Public Schools reached a milestone on Tuesday after the school board voted unanimously to award a $40 million construction contract for an early learning destination called the Lacey Education and Family Center, or LEAF.
The general contractor is Forma Construction of Olympia. The work is set to begin in late March on a site north of Nisqually Middle School alongside Marvin Road Southeast. The targeted opening date is the fall of 2027, Superintendent Troy Oliver said after Tuesday’s meeting.
He reflected on the moment and the planning that has gone into creating LEAF. North Thurston is the largest school district in the county with roughly 15,000 students.
“This goes back to a community conversation we had in 2018 where we identified that half the kids in our community were coming into kindergarten without any sort of formal preschool experience, whether at a home daycare, a formal commercial preschool, or one of our preschool programs,” he said. “So we’ve been working really hard since 2018 to close that gap.”
The COVID-19 pandemic then exacerbated early learning opportunities in the Lacey area because many child care centers closed. The state Department of Children, Youth & Families previously identified most of the North Thurston Public Schools service area as an “extreme childcare access desert,” The Olympian reported.
“If families want it and need access to a high quality preschool program, it’s available in our community,” said Oliver about LEAF. “And then that helps us with kids coming into kindergarten, and it helps the community. It’s a win-win for everybody. So we’re really excited about it.”
The board approved the contract without commenting on it. Funding for LEAF was largely supplied by a voter-approved capital levy in 2024, Oliver said.
What will it look like?
The building will measure 45,000 square feet and consist of 18 classrooms that will serve about 600 students.
The $40 million covers the cost of the primary building as well as related site work, said Tony Matiatos, director of construction and design for the district.
The related site work includes parking, the bus loop, play areas for each of the classrooms and a community playground, he said.
A groundbreaking ceremony is set for March 30, district spokeswoman Amy Blondin said.
The district has also applied for $250,000 in grant funding from the Seattle Sounders FC to build a mini soccer pitch — about the size of a basketball court — on the site, Matiatos added.
“So through the design phase, we went and we incorporated a placeholder for it, so that we understood where it could fit on the site,” he said. “And we’re still seeking that grant money from the Sounders. Assuming that the grant money does come in, then we will build it.”
