Ferndale Public Schools announced that it would be seeking to transfer the ownership rights of the Kulick Community Center to the city of Ferndale.
By: Mike Koury | Woodward Talk | Published August 29, 2025
FERNDALE — The former site of the Kulick Community Center might be finding its way back to the city of Ferndale.
In an announcement made on social media Aug. 26, Ferndale Public Schools said it would look to transfer the ownership of the Kulick Community Center property, located at 1201 Livernois St., to the city.
“Our school district recognizes the historical and cultural importance of the community center,” Ferndale Public Schools Superintendent Camille Hibbler said in a prepared statement. “For generations, this building has been more than just a structure, it’s been a gathering place, a home for celebrations, a hub for programs and a cornerstone of our community’s story. While it hasn’t been in use for the past several years due to infrastructure needs, we are committed to ensuring that it is preserved as a valuable resource in the years to come.”
“We believe this will help preserve the center’s role in the community while opening new opportunities for growth and use,” Hibbler’s statement continued. “A final agreement has not yet been reached, however, we are encouraged by the progress being made and remain dedicated to seeing this process through. As discussions move forward, we promise to keep you informed every step of the way.”
If the deal can be made, the city and school district would swap pieces of land. The city would receive the community center, while the school district would get land owned by the city south of Ferndale High School near the tennis courts.
Ferndale’s history with the 100-year-old Kulick Community Center building started in 2000 when a 25-year lease was agreed upon between the city and the school district. The city would lease the former Washington Elementary School as the community center for $1 each year.
The Kulick Community Center operated for the next 20 years in the building until the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with infrastructure failures and budget challenges forced its closure. The lease agreement between the school district and city was terminated in 2022.
Ferndale has been without a permanent community center during the past five years, though it has looked into different avenues for a new facility.
Council member Laura Mikulski was not expecting the announcement by the school district, but it’s one she was excited to hear about.
“There has been discussion of a land swap since before that divestment happened back in 2022. And recently, with the previous Headlee override that failed last year in 2024, we realized that we weren’t going to be situated so that we could build a new community center,” she said. “We finally are having good, earnest discussions with the school and I am very hopeful that we will have an agreement sometime soon.”
Mikulski also credited the work of resident Eddie Sabatini and the petition drive he started with his Kulick Coalition group to get a conversation started on revisiting the community center.
If the city were to have ownership of the Kulick Community Center land, this would mean Ferndale can invest taxpayer dollars into the building, Mikulski said.
“If you’re renting your apartment, are you going to invest a lot of your income in fixing it up and renovating it and turning it into your dream place when you don’t own it?” she said. “Owning it allows us to get more creative with the way that we finance things. It gets us to a point where we can be creative with potential partnerships, like nonprofits. They could come in and help augment our funding so that we can afford to do something beautiful with the building. It’s a much stronger financial position for us, because with that ownership we can be more calculated about decisions.”
Mikulski hopes that the city and school district can make an agreement by the end of the year, though it will require the will of the school board and City Council to do so, with approvals needed from both bodies.
“I feel like we are all in agreement that there’s positive momentum and we’re happy to see it,” she said.