The old Highlands Library might soon have new owners.

Renton City Council passed a resolution declaring the former Renton Highlands Library, located 2902 NE 12th St., as surplus property following a public hearing at the June 19 council meeting.

Renton Housing Authority has shown interest in acquiring the surplus property to covert the building into a multiservice and career development center.

“It is a perfect location for a multiservice center for the community, which the Renton Highlands area is lacking,” said Kellee Rodriguez, executive coordinator of Renton Housing Authority, in an email. “It perfectly fits our mission to house families and help them become self-sufficient. It also allows us to take advantage of the great partnership that the Housing Authority has with its city and with other service providers.”

Rodriguez said they hope the center will attract different services like job enhancement services, after-school programs, and social services.

The agency is teaming up with nonprofit Neighborhood House to raise funds for a $1 million capital campaign.

“Neighborhood House has been an active partner with the city and Renton Housing Authority in the Sunset area for the past several years. Renton Housing Authority has been working with them in our Senior building and we are excited that they have decided to partner with us on this adventure,” said Rodriguez.

The property was appraised last year for the fair market value of $885,000, an amount Renton Housing Authority as agreed to pay.

As per city policy, the property was first offered to all city departments and then to local government agencies. None of the city departments showed interest. Washington State Department of Transportation, King County Real Estate and Renton Historical Society also did not show interest in the property.

“We want this building to be for the community. We are hoping that this will be a building to bring together partners to help us better serve the community,” Rodriguez said.

She said Renton Housing Authority will apply for a conditional use permit once the city completes the legal process for the property.

Initially the property was platted on August 8, 1956 and the building was built in 1973. It was short platted in 2017. The restrictions placed when the property stipulates the property has to be in public ownership and public use.

The former library sits at the heart of the Sunset neighborhood, an area the city of Renton has been working toward revitalizing. The revitalization effort leverages public investment to catalyze private property development and create opportunities for market-rate, affordable housing and retail investment. The 269-acre neighborhood, which former library property sits in, acts as a gateway to the Highlands area that was established in the early 1940s as a project to provide temporary housing for World War II workers.