Bastyr University officials have announced that they are backing out of talks to take over the Seminary building in Saint Edward State Park and renovate the 84-year-old structure. Saint Edward State Park is located in Kenmore on the boundary with Kirkland.

“After careful consideration and months of due diligence, Bastyr University has decided not to move forward on acquiring access to Saint Edward State Park facilities,” said Bastyr University President Daniel K. Church, PhD in a statement. “Based on information developed during our meetings with Daniels Real Estate, the Washington State Parks Commission and city of Kenmore, we concluded that from an operational and financial standpoint working to renovate and occupy the buildings at the park were not feasible for us at this time.”

Kenmore Mayor David Baker said that the news was “pretty disappointing.”

“I certainly understand,” Baker said. “It would have taken up a lot of their resources. We were looking forward to their possible involvement.”

Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission spokesperson Virginia Painter agreed.

“We were optimistic about the collaboration,” Painter said. “The Commission as a body has expressed an interest in a private/public partnership for the building.”

A public meeting scheduled for Feb. 4 on the future of the building has been cancelled by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.

Painter said that the Commission will meet on Jan. 28 for a regularly scheduled work session and the Seminary issue will be discussed. The meeting, which will start at 9 a.m., is open to the public and will take place at the Washington State Labor and Industries headquarters, located at 7273 Linderson Way SW in Tumwater.

Last September the Commission voted to give the private/public partnership a year. But if there is no agreement with a private partner by Sept. 25, 2015, the Commission will move forward with vacating the building all together.

“We still hope that something will come up to take care of the building,” Painter said.

Painter said that the building is currently being used to house rangers for the park and one of the rooms is being rented out. But for the most part, the building is empty.

“It is just too expensive to maintain,” Painter said.

Bastyr University, Kenmore’s largest employer and is also in the midst of expanding its campus in San Diego, Calif. The University is walking distance from the 80,000-square-foot Seminary, which also includes an in-door pool.

The proposal would have brought the Seminary back to its original use with classrooms and student residential space — two uses that are included in the University’s Master Plan that was approved by the city of Kenmore in 2009.

The Seminary, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been the center of debate for years, as the Washington State Parks Department cannot afford the maintenance on the deteriorating building, which is closed to the public.

“There is a percentage of the population that would love to see it crumble and there is a percentage that would love to save the building for the public and for posterity,” Baker said. “I would love to see someone take it over.”

Baker said that the city of Kenmore does not have the resources to take over the building.

“We have more pressing needs like sidewalks and other public safety issues,” Baker said.

The issue of what to do with the building has been ongoing for the better part of the last decade. Portland-based McMenamin’s looked at taking over the building prior to its plans to renovate the former Northshore School District’s Anderson Building in downtown Bothell. Local residents voiced concern in 2013 when a United States Defense Department contractor was in talks to renovate and lease the building. Ultimately, talks for that deal also broke down.

Seattle-based developer Daniels Real Estate stepped forward to broker the conversations between the Washington State Parks and the city of Kenmore with Bastyr University. The Bastyr University Board of Trustees authorized university administrators to request a business plan from Daniels Real Estate earlier this year for review as Daniels was tasked to develop a proposal for the restoration of the historic seminary building.

Bastyr University moved its main campus to its current location in 1996 through the purchase of the 51-acre campus that was originally Saint Thomas Seminary, from the Seattle Archdiocese in 2005.

The around 300 acres of Saint Edward State Park includes undeveloped Lake Washington waterfront, forest and trails, and is in the stewardship of the Washington State Parks system.