Condemned: Old Stanton rots while legal mire stalls help for historic school

[thelakelander]

Old Stanton High School, a 104-year-old historic landmark that shaped generations of Jacksonville’s Black youth, faces a race against time and bureaucracy to avoid collapsing in decay.

The three-story brick building was condemned as unsafe to enter in May after the roof fell in and water poured down to the ground level and into the electrical system, starting a fire.

Friends of the building at 521 W. Ashley St. downtown were already planning its restoration before the fire and reached out to city officials to seek help paying for emergency repairs.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/history/2021/01/22/old-stanton-high-decays-backers-try-save-jacksonville-school/6258367002/

[acme54321]

That group has let it get to this point.  I feel they are in way over their heads.  IMO they need to sell to someone that can fully redevelop the property.

[vicupstate]

That group has let it get to this point.  I feel they are in way over their heads.  IMO they need to sell to someone that can fully redevelop the property.

It wouldn't be the first time that has happened in LaVilla. An important historic building is put in non-profit hands simply to languish. I think there are at least two other examples in LaVilla. Brewster is one, seems likhere is a second but the name escapes me.

[thelakelander]

^Genovar's Hall. I can understand the racial and political sentiment that would lead to the last few remaining buildings still standing, going to groups that are directly tied to the erased neighborhood's past. However, these places will need some public funding, just as much as the Laura Trios and Ambassador Hotels and Lot Js. Stanton is a pretty big building. Most nonprofits in this town aren't going to be financed to be able to afford its rehabilitation, no matter how many bricks with people's names on them are sold.

[jaxlongtimer]

What is this factoid all about?  How could the ownership not be clear at this point?  You have got to be kidding!

But efforts by City Council members to help cover the expense have been stalled since summer because the nonprofit that oversees the building couldn’t prove that it was the owner, and taxpayer money couldn’t be used without that proof.

[sandyshoes]

I would love to be able to read the story; however, as I don't subscribe to the T-U, it bounces me to their subscription page. 

[simms3]

Given the nature of our city, the scope of our existing home-grown real estate establishment, etc etc there is not a whole lot of desire/capability/talent/will to transform this building into a new use resting within our own private sector (at this time), let alone the non-profit sector.

This shouldn't be in the hands of a non-profit if we want this building to survive.  Frankly, without it being in any immediate "path of progress" for at least a few years, I don't see the private sector touching this either for the foreseeable future.

The city should just take control of it and stabilize it enough to be secure for the next few years (i.e. do what was done with the marble bank building by putting up a new roof and stabilizing the walls).  With the money saved from being dumped on Lot J, this is an example of something the city could do, if there is a will.

Letting it rot with a "local" non-profit in the name of political correctness will ensure its demise.

[acme54321]

What is this factoid all about?  How could the ownership not be clear at this point?  You have got to be kidding!

But efforts by City Council members to help cover the expense have been stalled since summer because the nonprofit that oversees the building couldn’t prove that it was the owner, and taxpayer money couldn’t be used without that proof.

Something about the schools leasing the site from a trust set up in the late 1800s until they closed the school it had been so long that everyone forgot about the trust, then when the school was closed the trustees set up this non-profit and conveyed the building, or supposedly did but might not have.  Sounds like a mess.

[thelakelander]

Really sounds like the city should step in and get the thing shored up before it falls in on itself.

[fsu813]

I would love to be able to read the story; however, as I don't subscribe to the T-U, it bounces me to their subscription page. 

So subscribe. It's inexpensive and very, very, very relevant.

[vicupstate]

Letting it rot with a "local" non-profit in the name of political correctness will ensure its demise.

Was it 'political correctness' or just unloading  a white elephant to the only party that wouldn't say 'no'? 

[Adam White]

Letting it rot with a "local" non-profit in the name of political correctness will ensure its demise.

Was it 'political correctness' or just unloading  a white elephant to the only party that wouldn't say 'no'?

I think the "political correctness" comment was a conclusion in search of evidence. Par for the course, really.