PULLMAN, WA – Local philanthropists Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories are offering to buy the Pullman Aquatic Center to save the financially troubled government facility.
The Schweitzer Family donated $2.5 million to build the indoor pool near Pullman High School which opened in 2000. The Pullman School District owns the facility while the City of Pullman operates the pool and fitness center.
Last year Superintendent Dr. Bob Maxwell informed the city that the school district intended to pull out of the pool agreement in the summer of 2025. Dr. Maxwell said that the school district could no longer afford the roughly $100,000 a year on the pool. That money to the city was for school pool activities like the high school swim team’s use along with facility maintenance.
SEL, its Founder and former President Dr. Ed Schweitzer and his wife Beatriz are offering to save the aquatic center. The offer was shared by Dr. Schweitzer to Pullman Radio News for this report.
SEL is offering to buy the pool from the school district for $1.2 million cash. Dr. Schweitzer notes that it’s a generous offer at or above fair market value. SEL and the Schweitzers would remodel and upgrade the pool. The company would operate the aquatic center and provide job opportunities for the current city workers who work at the pool. SEL would provide access for the Greyhounds swim team and school activities at a cost of $50,000 annually to the school district. That’s half of what the school district is paying the city currently for using the pool. SEL would make the pool available to the public through swim memberships and passes at fair market value. SEL would make the facility available to city parks and recreation pool programs. The proposal also calls for expanding aquatic center hours.
Dr. Schweitzer adds that private SEL ownership of the pool would generate about 20,000 dollars annually in new property tax revenue to the school district. The city would receive about 8,000 dollars a year in new tax revenue from the pool. Dr. Schweitzer points out the deal would eliminate the city’s half a million dollar annually spending on the facility.
Dr. Schweitzer emailed the offer to Mayor Francis Benjamin and Superintendent Maxwell on Thursday morning.
SEL is based in Pullman and designs and manufactures digital relays and control systems for the power industry worldwide.
