New deal in works for Madison Park Cooperative Preschool’s home in the Madison Beach Park Bathhouse

(Image: Madison Park Cooperative Preschool)

The Madison Park Cooperative Preschool has put the Madison Beach Park Bathhouse to good use since the 1970s. The city is ready to sign off on a new 10-year contract to keep the school part of the park.

An ordinance authorizing the deal is slated to come before the Seattle City Council’s Parks and City Light Committee Wednesday afternoon:

The proposed Council Bill authorizes the Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) to execute for and on behalf of SPR a ten-year Operations and Use Contract with The Madison Park Cooperative Preschool (MPCP) for the Madison Beach Park Bathhouse to provide early childhood educational programming including preschool for infants through five years of age, as well as family and community events. SPR has maintained a long partnership with MPCP, who have maintained the contract for this facility since the 1970s.

The bidding process for the contract opened in 2024. The city says the preschool was the only bidder to respond.

The city says the deal comes in at $274,800 — “paid in both cash and public benefits.”

Agreed public benefits focused on community engagement include seasonal community events, working with the Friends of Madison Park to provide space for meetings and their events, parent education opportunities, and supply drives that provide donated supplies to underserved communities.

A portion of public benefits adopted by MPCP over the next ten years will also include improvements to the bathhouse.

Madison Park Cooperative Preschool began in 1970 as a small baby-sitting cooperative founded by neighborhood parents. From its start, the co-op operated out of the historic Madison Park Bathhouse, where E Madison meets the shores of Lake Washington.

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