Pullman’s Gladish Community Center shuttered its doors in September. Stores, tenants, history and debts were left in its wake.

PULLMAN – Instead of lacing up their roller skates for the three remaining home games of the season, Coyote Country Roller Derby pulled up the tape last September from the local gymnasium in which they had played for 14 years.

The Blue Raven apothecary and gift shop had already seen foot traffic dwindle, but now no customers would enter this storefront again. The owner would not reopen.

Irreplaceable archives, maps, newspapers and numerous other historical documents recounting the history of Pullman and the surrounding area were loaded into trucks, as the Whitman County Historical Society was forced to venture into a new chapter.

Jobs were lost, community organizations disrupted and tenants scrambled to find new homes after Pullman’s Gladish Community Center permanently shut its doors on Sept. 15. The reason? Publicly, it was the loss of a major tenant. But public records show years of financial troubles.

Owned and operated by the Friends of the Gladish since 1996, the Gladish Community Center, located in the former Pullman High School on State Street near downtown, offered residents opportunities for business, education, entertainment, recreation and friendship. Friends of the Gladish’s 2021 annual report, the most recent publicly available, named 34 tenants – including Coyote Country, Blue Raven, the historical society and others – that resided in the 73,000-square-foot building in some capacity. According to the Gladish website, parts of the structure of the Gladish date back to 1929, but most of what stands today is a product of a renovation in 1954. This aging building had numerous problems.

The archivist at the Whitman County Historical Society, Alex Otero, described his experience as a tenant, saying the building would get so hot that the water from cold-water faucets was too warm to water plants. One day, the heat went off in the middle of winter.

“It was colder than Hades in there,” he said. Don’t get him started on the internet issues.

“They were good people,” Otero said of the building’s management team. “They were just trying to survive within their limitations.”

The Friends of the Gladish were aware of the issues with the building and had been working on them. A full picture of their finances in the last remaining years is not publicly available because, according to the former office manager, Nikoe Valentine, the board did not submit an annual report in 2023 or 2024, a requirement for nonprofits in Washington. The last publicly available annual report from 2021 listed planned capital improvement projects that included roof repair, asbestos abatement, HVAC repair, new bathrooms and more, estimated at $862,600.

The Friends of the Gladish board members declined to comment for this story. However, board President David Harder stated on the “Bill and Evan Show” on Pullman Radio on Dec. 16, 2024, that the financial troubles of the community center were attributed to the cost of upkeep and losing the lease they had with the Pullman Community Montessori school, which lost its charter on June 4, 2024. Records indicate there were more problems.

Three federal tax liens totaling $66,984.05 were filed against the Friends of the Gladish for tax periods beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, six months before Pullman Community Montessori’s charter was revoked. A lien is a legal claim against a property that serves as security for a debt. According to county records, one of those liens, totaling $24,705.18, was paid on Oct. 29.

On May 29, 2024, Harder, on behalf of the Friends of the Gladish, signed a Deed of Trust with the Washington Commerce Department as part of a grant the community center was awarded in 2023 for $582,000. The deeds terms require that Friends of the Gladish pay all lawful taxes and keep the property free and clear of liens. At the time of this agreement, taxes had not been paid since January, and the Pullman Community Montessori had yet to have its charter revoked. According to a spokesperson for the Commerce Department, $62,652 of that grant has been spent, and the department is now working with the Friends of the Gladish to recapture those funds.

The publicly available IRS database does not have a record of the Friends of the Gladish filing a Form 990, the required tax form for nonprofits, for tax years 2023 and 2024. In an interview with the Lewiston Tribune on Aug. 30, Harder said the Friends of the Gladish will continue to operate and accept donations to the community center.

Tax liens were not the only financial issues. Elsom Roofing out of College Place, Washington, filed a construction lien on Jan. 31, for $123,003 for unpaid work that began in August 2023. Harder stated on the July 30, episode of the “Bill & Evan Show” that the recent repairs addressed 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of roofing.

In December 2024, Friends of the Gladish informed the public that, with the loss of the Pullman Community Montessori lease and the aging building, they were in desperate need of financial support. There was an attempt to raise enough money to keep the community center afloat, but in July, tenants received a letter informing them that Friends of the Gladish were selling the building. It is currently listed for $3.25 million.

Later that month, the board held a meeting with tenants. Erica Everett, president of Coyote Country Roller Derby, said the board laid out their plan, but ultimately, she knew it was going to close; she just did not know when.

“It felt to many of us like we were paying the price for the board’s reckless management of a historic building,” said Amanda Davis, owner of the former Blue Raven apothecary and gift shop. Davis said tenants tried to express solutions to the board, but they were averse to any further fundraising.

On July 15, Valentine and a custodian were laid off. “I felt like they did me kind of dirty,” Valentine said.

Then came September. The remaining three employees of the Gladish Community Center were let go, and tenants were informed that the power would be shut off. They had 18 days to vacate. Coyote Country Roller Derby, Blue Raven, Whitman County Historical Society, Aloft Yoga, Apostolic Faith Church, the Montessori School of Pullman (not associated with the school that lost its charter), Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse, Obscene Improv, the Gladish Players and others were faced with a nearly impossible task: relocate, and fast. Some were able to, some chose to close and some are still looking for a home.

“We were a community center. We were for everybody,” Valentine said. “We were able to actually bring people together and allow people to get the services that they needed.”

The city of Pullman has placed a bright red sign on the front door of the Gladish Community Center: “Danger. Do not enter. Unsafe to occupy.”