Empty DC Schools Development
9 04 2009Looks like all those DC schools that have been closed will soon see new life. Bids for the development of eleven of the now empty school properties were due to the District at the end of March and there are some pretty interesting groups that responded. In addition to the typical developers, there were also bids from the Tiger Woods Foundation for a learning center, and the University of DC for an annex.
The properties that groups were most interested in turned out to be Hine Jr. High School in Southeast and Stevens Elementary School on 21st street NW (pictured above). We just hope they all end up being used to serve the community in some way and not just turned into more condos! [Photo: NCinDC]
Expanding the housing supply and providing new places for people to live WOULD be serving the community.
Don’t get your hopes up re: the re-use of these schools: I don’t remember the exact numbers, but recently the city put up for bids about 5 vacant schools, and because of the rules for the bidding process which seem stacked against educational institutions like charter and private schools, they received a total of 7 bids, only two of which were for educational use.
So, condos are the most likely alternative. I guess they bring in more tax revenue than a school, so DC puts its thumb on the scale to the detriment of education. A shame since these buildings were obviously designed for educational purposes, and would likely require less architectural modication than if they are converted to condos. So preservation loses, too, in this approach.
D.C. shuttered somewhere around 23 schools – right? That means there is plenty of inventory for charter schools to choose from. But I think the location of Hine Jr. High School next to Eastern Market metro is too valuable for a charter school. Putting it out for bidding and creating a PUD makes sense. With a PUD the city can demand significant community benefit be incorporated into the project. It won’t simply be condos with no retail or other contributing assets like the Gage School in LeDroit.
What happeded to the idea that DC would hold onto these buildings for the day when we need more schools again?
Or did everyone finally realize this was just a blind fantasy?
Friends at several charter schools that are seeking permanent locations tell me that inquires by their schools as to the use of the shuttered school bldgs have been repeatedly rebuffed by the city gov’t despite the initial announcement that priority use of the closed schools would go to charters.
apparently that was just a lot of hot air, and its hard to read it any other way than that despite paying lip service to charters and the rapidly growing population in charters the DC gov’t isn’t actually interested in helping them.
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