It seems appropriate, on the day after E.M. Stanton and Isaac Sheppard Elementary were spared closure by the SRC, to wonder about the fate of the former George W. Childs School. Located at 17th and Tasker Sts. in Point Breeze for over a century, the school moved to 16th and Wharton Sts. two years ago. Its old building and adjoining parking lot were offered for sale earlier this year, along with a dozen other former School District properties across the city.
Listed for $1.25M and “marketed” by Grubb & Ellis Co., this building was not listed like a typical privately owned piece of real estate. Instead, interested buyers were required to submit a response to a Request for Qualifications by February 21st. Qualified buyers will then have to go through an additional RFP process before ultimately being selected by an Evaluation Committee.
Who will be chosen as the buyer? When this will happen? What uses will ultimately be appreciated by this Evaluation Committee? We don’t know. Grubb & Ellis wouldn’t return phone calls. Ditto the School District.
What we do know is that there’s a large, historically designated building sitting on a parcel that’s over an acre in size, in a growing area. Will this building become a charter school? A residential conversion? Market rate? Affordable? Will the building be torn down like the Drexel School a few blocks away that will soon become ReNewbold?
It could be quite awhile before we find out concrete answers to any of these questions.