A Brookside school building more than a century old could be saved from the wrecking ball after an under-the-radar filing by a new city preservation commissioner.
Why it matters: The move seeks to block efforts by Kansas City Public Schools, which wants to sell the shuttered Bryant Elementary School building so it can be torn down and turned into big houses.
- The building sits on prime real estate near Loose Park, raising questions over land use, tax dollars and historic redevelopment.
Flashback: The school was built in 1915 and closed in 2009. Its enrollment of 244 students was about two-thirds of its capacity at the time, and only 1.2% of students lived in the school’s ZIP code, per a 2009 report.
- KCPS considered reopening it a decade ago as enrollment grew, but the district faced significant costs to bring it up to modern standards.
- KCPS earlier this month decided to approve a plan to demolish the building, divide up the property and build large single-family homes with big yards.
The latest: Christopher Stritzel, who was appointed to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission last week, filed Tuesday to have the Bryant School placed on the city’s Register of Historic Places.
- The filing kicks off a series of approval procedures that immediately prevent the building’s demolition, leaving the plan in limbo.
What they’re saying: KCPS planning and real estate manager Jesse Lange tells Axios they surveyed nearly 300 people and weighted responses from residents in adjacent neighborhoods, who were mostly in favor of the current plan…