COOLEY HIGH SCHOOL in DETROIT > FOR SALE !
Center Map = School Property`s for sale
Upper left = Thomas M. Cooley H.S For Sale
Upper right = Cooley H.S. Auditorium
The former Cooley High School at 15055 Hubbell Ave. in Detroit is among the buildings offered for sale on Wednesday. It closed in 2010.
Detroit Free Press
Detroit Public Schools joined with the Detroit Works program and other civic leadership Wednesday to pitch the sale of surplus school properties at an all-day conference aimed at builders, investors and developers.
Contact Mayor Davee Bing below > http://www.detroitmi.gov/MayorsOffice/tabid/123/Default.aspx
The goal: To promote the adaptive reuse of the 21 "priority" sites highlighted at the conference as well as the nearly 100 total surplus Detroit Public School buildings and sites that the district has for sale. Many of the sites shown Wednesday are linked to Detroit Works priority neighborhoods -- those areas that the city wants to concentrate services in to promote stability."Reuse is so critically important," DPS emergency manager Roy Roberts told the conference attended by more than 100 potential interested parties at Sacred Heart Seminary. "School buildings last longer than most businesses. If you can find other uses for these facilities, it's a great help to the community where they are located."
Around the nation, surplus school buildings have been remade as art centers, residential lofts, theaters, historical museums and more. Andrea Brown, executive director of the Michigan Planning Association, said old school buildings represent key assets in many urban neighborhoods. The buildings tend to be well-built, feature notable architecture, have long served as community anchors, and often come with considerable acreage that could serve many purposes.
"There are a lot of great benefits to bringing these school buildings back onto the market, and a lot of economic value, too," Brown said. At the morning session, Tammy Deane, DPS real estate manager, told listeners that the district remained open to any good idea or serious purchase offers. "We're about getting deals done and getting them done quickly," she told listeners. "We're very motivated."
In recent years, DPS has sold roughly $2 million to $4 million worth of surplus property each year. With the economy recovering, "We're optimistic that we can sell even more product," Roberts said. More information about the 21 properties highlighted at the event can be found at www.datadrivendetroit.org/dpsreuse .
The full list of DPS surplus properties can be obtained by e-mailing Deane at tammy.deane@detroitk12.org. If it's not new that DPS is selling off vacant school buildings, what differed about the presentation Wednesday was the collaboration with multiple other groups working to reinvent the city, including the Detroit Works program, the Michigan Association of Planning, and others. Karla Henderson, Mayor Dave Bing's group executive for planning and facilities, told the gathering that re purposing empty school buildings represents a key part of revitalizing Detroit neighborhoods."We are so open and flexible at this time in thinking outside the box," she said, citing the recent example of the nonprofit group Southwest Solutions adapting a former police precinct on West Vernor near I-75 as a community arts center as the type of adaptive reuse the city is willing to entertain. Organizers took pains to show how investors, developers and other potential buyers can get the help they need to negotiate a deal.
City Council is working on an adaptive reuse zoning ordinance that would make it easier to redevelop an old school building. And representatives of the city's Detroit Works program and the city Planning Commission were on hand to put the potential sales in a larger context of city revitalization.Those attending had mostly positive reviews of the conference."I think the collaboration is historic, because up to now it's just been demolition," said architect Michael Poris, president of the Birmingham-based McIntosh Poris Associates. Nancy Finegood, executive director of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, chided the district for being too quick to demolish vacant school buildings."I think that there should be more consideration that these are historic buildings that have been standing for well over 100 years in many cases," Finegood said. Questions from the audience during the morning presentation also raised other concerns, among them that DPS does not give away sites, a potential roadblock for nonprofit groups that wish to reuse a building. Also, the district cannot offer potential developers tax breaks and other incentives to put together a deal; for that, developers have to go to the city or state.
Around the nation, surplus school buildings have been remade as art centers, residential lofts, theaters, historical museums and more. Andrea Brown, executive director of the Michigan Planning Association, said old school buildings represent key assets in many urban neighborhoods. The buildings tend to be well-built, feature notable architecture, have long served as community anchors, and often come with considerable acreage that could serve many purposes.
"There are a lot of great benefits to bringing these school buildings back onto the market, and a lot of economic value, too," Brown said. At the morning session, Tammy Deane, DPS real estate manager, told listeners that the district remained open to any good idea or serious purchase offers. "We're about getting deals done and getting them done quickly," she told listeners. "We're very motivated."
In recent years, DPS has sold roughly $2 million to $4 million worth of surplus property each year. With the economy recovering, "We're optimistic that we can sell even more product," Roberts said. More information about the 21 properties highlighted at the event can be found at www.datadrivendetroit.org/dpsreuse .
The full list of DPS surplus properties can be obtained by e-mailing Deane at tammy.deane@detroitk12.org. If it's not new that DPS is selling off vacant school buildings, what differed about the presentation Wednesday was the collaboration with multiple other groups working to reinvent the city, including the Detroit Works program, the Michigan Association of Planning, and others. Karla Henderson, Mayor Dave Bing's group executive for planning and facilities, told the gathering that re purposing empty school buildings represents a key part of revitalizing Detroit neighborhoods."We are so open and flexible at this time in thinking outside the box," she said, citing the recent example of the nonprofit group Southwest Solutions adapting a former police precinct on West Vernor near I-75 as a community arts center as the type of adaptive reuse the city is willing to entertain. Organizers took pains to show how investors, developers and other potential buyers can get the help they need to negotiate a deal.
City Council is working on an adaptive reuse zoning ordinance that would make it easier to redevelop an old school building. And representatives of the city's Detroit Works program and the city Planning Commission were on hand to put the potential sales in a larger context of city revitalization.Those attending had mostly positive reviews of the conference."I think the collaboration is historic, because up to now it's just been demolition," said architect Michael Poris, president of the Birmingham-based McIntosh Poris Associates. Nancy Finegood, executive director of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, chided the district for being too quick to demolish vacant school buildings."I think that there should be more consideration that these are historic buildings that have been standing for well over 100 years in many cases," Finegood said. Questions from the audience during the morning presentation also raised other concerns, among them that DPS does not give away sites, a potential roadblock for nonprofit groups that wish to reuse a building. Also, the district cannot offer potential developers tax breaks and other incentives to put together a deal; for that, developers have to go to the city or state.
“The past is the cause of the present and the present will be cause of the future” !
Fiat Lux
Editorial : This writer spent 12 years at Cooley H.S. as the Audio-Visual, Stage Technician. What a magnificent structure and facility. It is indeed a sad day ! Such a waste.
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