November 13, 2024

The City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) has granted the Suyematsu Farm Legacy Alliance $60,000 in seed funding to help underwrite urgently needed repairs the original Suyematsu family farmhouse.

This grant coincides with the recent agreement COBI signed with Suyematsu Farm Legacy Alliance (SFLA) to become operator of the Suyematsu Farm Historic Property on Bainbridge Island. On November 12, the Bainbridge Island City Council voted to approve the management agreement and grant. 

Founded in 1928, the original forty acres of Suyematsu Family Farm is one of the oldest, continuously farmed working landscapes in the region, and today is the largest production farm in Kitsap County.  It is the hub of our Island’s farming community and a treasured and iconic cultural asset.  

In 2001, Akio Suyematsu sold to the City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) the remaining fifteen-acres of his family farm.  Formal ownership of this property transferred to COBI upon Akio’s death in 2012. In 2016, five-acres of the Suyematsu Farm, including its original farm buildings, were listed in the Bainbridge Island Historic Register and was dedicated as the Island’s first ever Historic Preservation District (HPD). Today the site is known as the Suyematsu Farm Historic Property.

Many of the historic structures on the property have entered into an endangered state since Akio Suyematsu’s passing in 2012. The $60,000 in seed funding from COBI is a huge assist towards the estimated $180,000 it will cost SFLA to complete the series of urgent repairs to return the original Suyematsu family farmhouse back to a place of occupation, which include replacing the roof, removing severe mold, along with other electrical, heating and plumbing work.

SFLA is grateful to the City of Bainbridge Island for this seed grant, and for entrusting SFLA with the responsibility and stewardship of this important and iconic community asset.