(Image: Cornish College of the Arts)

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The nonprofit that operates the Paramount, the Moore and the Neptune is buying Capitol Hill’s Kerry Hall but the 103-year-old Cornish College property just off North Broadway won’t become the latest addition the Seattle Theater Group’s roster of live music and performance venues.

An announcement from Cornish on the sale said STG “will use the building to grow and expand its community-centered arts programming.”

STG says AileyCamp, a summer dance-focused day camp provided to middle school-aged kids at no charge and supported by corporate and foundation sponsors as well as King County arts grants, will expand into the E Roy studio and performance hall.

The organization will share “a detailed business plan in the new year,” the announcement said.

King County records shows STG paid Cornish $6 million in the transaction recorded Friday.

Students rallied for the building earlier this year (Image: @save_kerry_hall)

CHS reported here as Kerry Hall hit the Capitol Hill real estate market in April. At the time of Cornish’s announcement that it was finally preparing to sever its final ties to its birth neighborhood and fully move its campus to South Lake Union, the arts school did not include a price for the E Roy property and three-story building just off Broadway within the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District.

Cornish College of the Arts students gathered along E Roy on Capitol Hill for a sit-in at the building hoping to keep the structure a center for arts in the neighborhood. The Save Kerry Hall group formed with hopes of asking Cornish to reconsider the decision — or help shape the old building’s future by finding a buyer dedicated to continuing its role in the city’s arts scene.

The property connects to the very first days of Cornish. Nellie Cornish called the site home at the time of the school’s 1914 founding meaning a sale of Kerry Hall will mark the end of a 110-year-old relationship between Cornish and the neighborhood.

The school was founded in 1914 at the corner of Broadway and Pine. That building was rejected for Seattle landmark status and is now part of a redevelopment that will create new housing and a new YouthCare Academy on the corner.

(Image: Cornish)

On E Roy, the 1921-era building originally known as “Cornish Hall” before being renamed to honor the leader of a foundation created to save the school, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977, though that does not necessarily protect it from changes. It also sits within the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District, a city designation, which could offer it protection in the form of specific requirements surrounding any changes to the 31,900-square-foot building and extra levels of review before almost any changes can be made.

Seattle Theatre Group is “a nonprofit arts organization and independent event promoter” that operates the city’s Paramount, Moore, and Neptune theatres and last season launched an outdoor venue at Remlinger Farms in Carnation. UPDATE: As several readers pointed out, STG has held a long-term lease since 2010 at the Neptune. It has been involved in the ownership of the Paramount since 1994 after the property traded hands for $6.1 million. Its relationship to the Moore’s ownership is more convoluted. King County describes multiple business entities involved with the parcel. STG says its a “steward” of the properties.

STG reported $73 million in expenses in 2023 while raising $75.6 million in revenue. Salaries and wages have grown significantly as an expense for the organization over the past decade from around 10% of costs to more than 16% in 2023 at around $12 million plus another $3.4 million in executive compensation.

It reported just under 700 employees in its most recent filings plus work from more than 1,500 volunteers.

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