The Washington State Historical Society has ranked Fort Ward Community Hall the sixth most important historical restoration project in the state.

Altogether, 35 projects totaling $8.98 million were recommended for support under the state’s Heritage Capital Project Fund.

The Washington State Historical Society, which administers the grants, recommended that the Fort Ward project receive $92,000 in 2017.

Fort Ward Community Hall’s top-tier ranking is key, as it positions the project strongly for full funding.

The recommendations now go to Gov. Jay Inslee for consideration in the state’s next biennial budget.

The community hall project ranks behind restoration of the historic schooner Adventuress and Seattle’s Paramount Theatre, and ahead of the Fifth Avenue Theatre, Pacific Science Center and the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.

“The state’s grant application and review process is rigorous, to say the least,” said Douglas Crist, Friends of Fort Ward board president.

“To score so well, against so many excellent projects around the state, speaks well of what we’ve got going on with our own little historic neighborhood hall,” he said.

The full rankings can be found at the WSHS website, www.washingtonhistory.org.

The Fort Ward Community Hall project will see restoration of the 1910 bakery building at Fort Ward for use as an indoor public park facility, joining the local ranks of Seabold and Island Center Halls and Camp Yeomalt.

An interpretive component will note the fort’s place in the Puget Sound coast defense network in the early 20th century and its significant role in top-secret Navy radio communications and code breaking during World War II. The project is a three-way partnership between the Friends of Fort Ward, a nonprofit neighborhood group, the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, and Kitsap County (Fort Ward) Sewer District No. 7.

Fundraising is ongoing, and the campaign is now closing in on a $60,000 challenge match from Bainbridge Island Rotary.