County proceeds with plans to remodel old school for government offices
Jefferson County Board of Commissioners are moving forward with plans to convert the former Louisville Middle School located at 1301 School Street into a multipurpose center housing the elections office, building inspections, commission offices and meeting rooms, the emergency operations center and 911/EMA.
The structure was originally built in the 1950s as the county’s first consolidated high school for African American students. After integration it became Louisville High and was later converted into a middle school which closed when a new consolidated middle school opened five years ago.
The 17,000 square foot building complex sits on 16.68 acres on the Louisville bypass.
In March, commissioners were presented with several roofing options and an architect’s redesigns for the exterior of the main building.
“We looked at doing a pitched roof on the building but the commissioners didn’t like the look of it,” said County Administrator Jerry Coalson. “They didn’t want it to look like an old school and they wanted it not to leak.”
The commissioners agreed on going with a low slope roof that looks closer to the original flat roof, but does not have the potential to hold water that those old designs suffered from. Current plans are to adhere insulation to the existing aggregate roof and build up from there.
“They gave us several drawings to look at and honestly, the commissioners were blown away by how good it looked,” Coalson said. “This new type of entrance, which is very inexpensive, will be included at three different entrances to the building.”
The new entrance design will be added onto the end of the building facing the bypass which will be the entrance for the elections office, at the original main entrance to the building and at the old lunchroom, which will now be the commission’s meeting room.
Coalson said that the county will now be working on insulating the exterior walls and adding HVAC units.
“The school did an amazingly good job of maintaining this property,” Coalson said. “From what we can tell, there are no leaks. The few places we had wet ceiling tiles turned out to be failed overhead water pipes.”
Most of the rest of the work required will be minor interior fittings and trim.
“It’s still going to cost $3 million or $4 million, but we can do that in pieces,” Coalson said. “We've got to spend that money on 911 anyway and we can either spend it at the Sheriff’s Department and leave them there or move them over here. The sheriff needs his space so we’ll move 911 over here.”
The elections office will be completed first and Coalson said that there is a possibility of having that portion finished by the end of 2024.
The county put the property up for sale in October of last year using a government surplus online auction company, but in November rejected the highest bid of $279,000. The property, which the county had received from the county school board for $1, had been appraised at $500,000.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: County proceeds with plans to remodel school for government offices
