There are two things I can’t stand, stupidity and lack of creativity.
The Kettering School board is exhibiting both.
Demolition of the 93-year-old D.L. Barnes building is planned by Kettering City Schools next year as part of up to $5 million in capital improvement projects.
Tearing down the building at 3750 Far Hills Ave. — which was once a high school and backs up to Kettering’s football stadium — will cost an estimated $2.1 million. The site would be used for green space, according to the school district.
It is the most expensive project on a tentative list for a 10-year deal the board of education approved Tuesday night to finance the work, district records show. A few years ago, district officials said fully renovating the Barnes building would cost close to $17 million.
Source: Demolition of 93-year-old building part of Kettering schools’ $5M deal [1]
It’s as if the local demolition mafia bought themselves a school board. Why you’d spend $2.1M demolishing a historic, well constructed, decently maintained public property to make an empty lot, before offering the building at auction for a developer is criminal.
In case they have heard, there are other old school buildings that have been repurposed in the area and done quite well. Oh, wait, isn’t that what the Rosewood arts complex is?
Or Hawthorne School [2] in the McPherson town neighborhood. Or Huffman Place [3] in the Huffman Historic District. Here’s a whole site dedicated to old schools converted to housing [4].
Or, maybe someone wants to open a charter school, in an actual school building? Could this be Dayton Stem School’s South location? Their first conversion of a retail box store was an expensive debacle too.
Where did the $17M estimate come from? Maybe we need to talk to the people in Zanesville who figured out a way to do it for “too much” – but under $6M [5]. Considering a former newspaper plant just up the street was turned into a nursing facility, do you think that one of the nursing home chains might find that location desirable?
Something smells really bad about this decision. If I was a Kettering resident, I’d be asking some serious questions, like “are you out of your cotton picking minds.”
OMG! Must be the same brain dead officials who were the catalysts for tearing down Julienne, Colonel White, Roosevelt and other beautiful, solidly made schools, leaving the heart of Dayton bankrupt! WTF??? What I loved about Germany was their ancient architecture, lovingly preserved and treasured. Not a “box store” or “modern” school in sight. These travesties are like squirting toothpaste out of a tube…….once you’ve done it, you can’t put it back in. I still grieve, seeing that those in power continue to turn a blind eye to history, to the wishes of the majority of the public, and to reason. How could so few wreak havoc on the soul of our once-proud and beautiful city? Only personal corruption of those who coldly, cruelly and irrationally hollowed out the heart of Dayton can explain so many ongoing attacks on the area’s architecture and distinction.
Apparently a few other people also see the value of real construction- and history- https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/rock-solid-or-money-pit-study-may-influence-fate-of-kettering-school-landmark/YEGNM7VPCJFO5EEUC7JYDZMBE4/
The plans have been delayed- but- no request for proposals has been solicited… why not? Put a sign on the lawn- get this party started.
Preservation Dayton just entered the fray: https://epaper.daytondailynews.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=b343ce85-a174-45e4-9bcc-118e2373fe29&utm_source=app.pagesuite&utm_medium=app-interaction&utm_campaign=pagesuite-epaper-ipad_share-article&appcode=DADANE&eguid=13aa0bfb-0984-4190-a316-62ce5fe0f267&pnum=19#
Another step to save the Barnes.
A state group says the D.L. Barnes building may well be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, according to a Dayton preservation organization. The Ohio State Historic Preservation Office said “it is highly likely” that the 94-year-old structure Kettering schools is moving to demolish could be line for that designation, Preservation Dayton Inc. said in a letter to the school district. “Preservation Dayton has experts who are available to assist in the nomination process and is willing to provide consulting services to complete and submit the nomination at no charge to the Kettering school system,” its president, Monica Snow, states in the letter. Source: Kettering Barnes school building could get historic designation, Ohio group says