Private Group To Manage Odd Fellows Building

After the suspension of the lodge's charter, management of the Odd Fellows Seattle Anchor Lodge on Capitol Hill has been handed over to a private company.

The cavernous, turn-of-the-century building - home to a variety of nonprofits, theaters and arts organizations - is now managed by Emerald City Investment and Management Inc., a small Seattle property-management firm.

"We're busy getting our arms around the project right now," said president David Angel. "It's a vast piece of property."

Angel said he did not yet know what kinds of improvements would be made to the old building.

The change caps months of investigation into the finances of the Seattle Anchor Lodge, launched by the Odd Fellow's Grand Lodge after tenants of the old building learned that some of the lodge's key members were allied with extremist political groups. Former Odd Fellow member Harry Schmidt, who has since resigned from the organization, is a local leader of the far-right Populist Party.

Arthur Craig, grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Washington, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, said that the Seattle group's charter was suspended for one year "for inability to manage their affairs." He declined to elaborate.

Craig said the lodge members won't lose their membership in the state organization and can petition for a charter after a year.

Jim Paulsen, former president of the lodge, declined to comment.

Details of an independent audit of the lodge, conducted by the accounting firm Moss Adams, were not available. The Internal Revenue Service reported that the lodge's property-management division had not filed its IRS Form 990s for the past few years. That division of the lodge is registered as a 501(C)(2) nonprofit, meaning it is tax-exempt but must file a form 990 annually to show how its funds are spent.

Nicholas Ourada, an independent accountant working for the lodge, said that "lots of files . . . were lost or not complete" when the Odd Fellows took over management of the building in 1989.

According to Ourada, the lodge's management association reported a gross income of $187,811 (mostly from rent) in 1993 and expenses of $185,332. It is not clear what, if any, charitable activities were supported by the money.