The first phase includes preserving the building’s shell — projected at $4.75 million — while the other involves renovating the first floor and part of the second level, a plan estimated at $11.24 million, Ruetschle Architects Inc. Vice President Mike Ruetschle told the Kettering board of education this week.
The former high school and junior high at 3750 Far Hills Ave. is “a really important site and it’s something that we’ve been stewing over” for years, Ruetschle said.
The two-phased choice would involve significant private funds, Kettering’s Business Services Director Jeff Johnson said.
This choice is the fifth the Ruetschle firm has presented for Barnes since 2018 and all require hazardous material abatement. The others include current projected costs ranging from $2.5 million to $28.6 million with complete demolition being the least expensive, Kettering records show.
A final decision on the building’s fate may not be made until this fall, officials said.
But “the abatement in every scenario would be funded by the district because it is necessary with every option,” Johnson said in an email. “The district would likely fund a partial demo as part of a preservation option, but that hasn’t been determined.”
Private funding
The privately-funded option Ruetschle presented the board followed the Schiewetz Foundation’s efforts to keep at least the original section of Barnes — built in 1929 — after the board’s decision late last year to tear down the building, citing prohibitive taxpayers’ costs.
Preservation Dayton Inc. and the Kettering schools Forward Foundation have also expressed interest in saving Barnes, where demolition is projected for December, school district records state.
Earlier this year, Kettering district officials said they would be open to hearing viable alternatives how private funds could possibly preserve at least part the site.
Those talks are ongoing, Kettering Superintendent Mindy McCarty-Stewart told board members.
“We have some very interested foundations” wanting to preserve the building, she said.
Private donations would be intended to “preserve and program the building,” which sits on land the district wants to keep, McCarty-Stewart said.
“We have continuously been able to communicate that the board’s wishes are that we are not selling the property,” she added, noting that it’s “important to the district and for generations to come.”
Projections for the option outlined this week have been shared with the Schiewetz Foundation, which is working with Kettering’s Forward Foundation to develop a capital campaign, Johnson said.
Those two organizations are “in the early stages of planning” for the campaign, Jessica Stickel, executive director of the forward foundation said in an email.
“As the district moves forward to begin the abatement process ... we will begin a feasibility study to gauge community interest” in private financial support,” Stickel said.
What’s next?
Schiewetz and Preservation Dayton representatives have said tearing down the entire building would wipe away an important part of the school district’s history.
The original section of Barnes has “solid masonry and stonework that would never be used in a modern structure,” Schiewetz representative Brady Kress has said.
Preservation Dayton President Monica Snow suggested in a letter to the Kettering school board that the building may be a good candidate for a National Register of Historic Places designation.
The Kettering board in February signed off on seeking bids for Barnes’ environmental abatement and that plan is moving forward, officials said.
“Regardless of whatever option shakes out,” Kettering school board President Toby Henderson said, “sometime this summer we will begin the process of accepting bids for abatement because abatement has to happen no matter what.”
Abatement work is projected to run from August through October, according to district records. Once complete, fundraising to preserve Barnes is expected to be assessed and the building’s fate could change, Johnson said.
Barnes was built as a high school. Additions were constructed in 1938, 1951 and 1968, Ruetschle said.
It later became a junior high school and — after school district consolidation — was used for decades as the district’s central office before Kettering’s administration moved to Lincoln Park Boulevard in recent years.
HISTORY OF OPTIONS
Since 2018, several options for the D.L. Barnes building have been presented to the Kettering board of education. Along with projected costs, they include:
Option 1: 2018: $17.4 million; 2022: $28.6M. Renovate board of education and pre-kindergarten.
Option 2: $22M. Partial abatement and demolition, renovating board of education.
Option 3: $12.85M. Abate and demolish; build new board building.
Option 4: $2.5M. Abate and demolish; add parking and green space.
Option 5: Phase I, $4.75M; partial demolition and envelope restoration; Phase II, $11.24M; Interior Renovation of board office, gym and multi-purpose use.
SOURCE: Kettering City Schools.
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