Following the approval of the site plan application for the Lodge at St. Edward by the Kenmore City Council, those working to restore the historic seminary property at St. Edward State Park are moving forward with their plans.

Chris Moore, executive director of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and Ron Wright of Ron Wright & Associates/Architects gave an update on the project to members of the Greater Bothell Chamber of Commerce at the chamber’s June meeting.

Moore began the presentation with a bit of background on the property and other projects in which his organization has participated.

“(Washington) State Parks own the most historic buildings in the state,” he said, adding that WSP owns more than 700 historic structures. “Historic buildings in state parks were hit hard by the recession.”

Funding for maintaining many historic buildings in state parks has been absent or minimal in recent years, and the lease of the St. Edward seminary property to Daniels Real Estate is one way for the historic Kenmore building to be restored at no cost to the state.

“The state can’t afford to fix or maintain everything,” Moore said. “This project has taken that capital burden, to a certain degree, off of state parks. … Shifting our thought process about how we use parks is powerful.”

Following Moore’s presentation, Wright gave a brief update on the design process for the restoration project, saying they plan to focus on green design and using the local economy to purchase items for the construction.

There will be 80 rooms at the Lodge at St. Edward. As previously reported, the facility is also planned to include a conference center, meeting rooms and a restaurant and it is estimated that Daniels will have to spend somewhere between $40-45 million on the renovations.