The Camp Casey Conference Center and the Fort Casey Inn will soon have a new owner.

Seattle Pacific University, which has owned the properties respectively for 68 and 24 years, signed a purchase and sale agreement with the YMCA of Snohomish County on Sept. 30.

Snohomish County YMCA CEO and President Peyton Tune said he expects to seal the deal sometime in November. According to the Island County Assessor’s website, the assessed value of the Camp Casey parcels totals $12.7 million.

The nonprofit will officially take over on Jan. 1, 2025, continuing to run Camp Casey as a conference center and retreat venue and retaining the seven employees who currently work under the university.

According to SPU’s webpage for Camp Casey, the YMCA will honor all reservations through Jan. 1, 2026.

In its first year of owning the place, Tune said, the YMCA will also learn about what needs are addressed and unaddressed on the island and adapt its programs to what the community wants.

In the short term, the Fort Casey Inn will continue to function as a lodging establishment, but Tune said there is a chance its use will change depending on what the community needs. On the Assessor’s website, the parcel housing the inn amounts to $1.9 million of assessed value.

Because each of the YMCA’s locations has an advisory board, Camp Casey will have its own board comprising members from Whidbey and Snohomish County, he said.

According to SPU, the university wasn’t actively marketing the properties but had been considering passing the baton to a new owner for decades to better focus on its main campus in Seattle.

Selling these properties is difficult, according to the university, because of specific land use and building improvement regulations in place to preserve the environmental and historical character of the sites.

SPU purchased the northern section of the former military fort known as Fort Casey when it was decommissioned by the government in 1956. The university acquired a large parade field, an auditorium, military bunk houses and Victorian-style homes that used to house officers. All of these were updated and renovated over the years to host the university’s own classes and retreats as well as sports camps, churches and educational groups.

The cottages which now make the Fort Casey Inn were purchased much later, in 2000. The cottages were erected in 1909 to house officers before World War I, according to information provided by SPU.

The university’s ideal successor was a nonprofit dedicated to education, youth development and community service with an interest in being good stewards — qualities that the university found in the YMCA of Snohomish County.

Tune said the YMCA plans to make small adjustments to the properties, such as repainting, adding fences, updating the signage and building a high rope course for young campers. However, the changes will be minimal to preserve the historic character of the properties, he said.

The YMCA has been in talks with the university for a year, as the nonprofit does not have a campsite in Snohomish County and was struggling to find a parcel of land available to host overnight camp programs.

Though Camp Casey is on Whidbey, Tune pointed out that the island is only a boat ride away from Snohomish County. It’s also close enough to a municipality — Coupeville — and located in a beautiful area that can attract participants from outside the region.

Whidbey has never had its own YMCA chapter, Tune said, so the Snohomish chapter will feel like its own, giving community members access to fun opportunities for personal development.

“Running camps for communities, youths and families is in our DNA,” he said.

The Fort Casey Inn’s cottages were built in 1909 and housed military officers. (Photo provided by Seattle Pacific University)