Broadway Middle School is now the Sunset Recreation Center.

The changes comes after the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District bought the building and took occupancy last month.

“We’ve temporarily renamed the building from Broadway Middle School to SRC, or Sunset Recreation Center,” Skyler Archibald, the park district’s executive director, said at last week’s board meeting. “We needed something else to call it to turn the page.”

That name could be temporary.

Part of the park district’s planning process for the property is to explore sponsorship opportunities, Archibald said. “I think it’s safe to say that we would welcome partnership with an entity, business or donor who shared in our vision for the property,” he said.

The park district purchased the former school for $2.15 million in January with the sale closing in January. The middle school was among Seaside School District properties relocated to the new Spruce Drive location outside of the tsunami inundation zone. Three acres of the 5.4-acre property at 1120 Broadway are zoned medium-density residential and the remaining portion general commercial.

Fiber internet was installed this week for broadband data service, and an alarm system is in progress.

The park district is now conducting an inventory of items left behind after the school district’s move, including desks, chairs, office supplies and paper.

Significant changes or investments will wait for a master plan, a process involving staff, consultants, board and the community, Archibald said.

Major projects, if they come, may be managed by an external consultant, but for now are simply focused on cleaning, organizing and assessing the state of the building, Archibald said.

“Earlier this fiscal year we hired a second full-time maintenance employee, in partial anticipation of this opportunity,” Archibald said. “It’s possible that we will expand that department as the need arises.”

Only the emergency child care program is operating without interruption in the former school.

While sports leagues have not restarted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the district has had interest in indoor facility rentals for pickleball, basketball, volleyball and soccer.

“We’re defining our rental process until the time is right and COVID allows us to,” Archibald said. “We want to make sure those spaces are adequate and everything is in good repair and then we’ll be able to handle those rentals.”

A Tuesday work session discussed priorities for the executive director regarding the former school until the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

Board members agreed to change the park district’s meeting date from the third Tuesday of the month to the fourth, in order to avoid a conflict with the Seaside School District Board of Directors schedule. The park district’s next regular board meeting is Feb. 23 at 5:15 p.m.