Many closed Kansas City schools get new life serving the urban core

The process hasn’t been perfect. But Kansas City Public Schools’ efforts to find new ways to use its surplus buildings have been worth the wait.

The district hasn’t acted impulsively or hastily to get rid of the schools it closed in 2010 because of a steep enrollment decline and the need to cut costs.

The vacant buildings with accompanying playgrounds, parking spaces and other property were concentrated in the urban core. They added to concerns people living around the buildings had of decay in inner-city neighborhoods.

More recently, under the district’s master plan, Southwest Early College Campus and Satchel Paige will join about 30 others that have been shuttered.

However, it’s encouraging to report that — while the process has taken a long time — district officials were right to involve people living and working around the closed schools to find the best plans for the properties.

That buy-in has been behind the success of the buildings that have been repurposed for new uses.

The process has worked so well that school districts in Detroit, St. Louis and a number of other cities facing the same building closure problem are calling Kansas City Public Schools for guidance.

“I think we have some definite successes,” said Shannon Jaax, who since January 2011 has overseen the process as the district’s Repurposing Initiative director.

That labor-intensive work has included community tours of the many empty schools, community forums and proposals being submitted for the buildings’ reuse with a demonstrated ability to finance the project. More forums followed to get input on the proposals. If everything checked out, the plan went to the school board for approval.

Current school board members Carl Evans and Pattie Mansur praised Jaax’s efforts, especially for community engagement.

Many of the buildings that once alternated between the noise of children having fun and being studiously quiet in classwork have been repopulated with older people in many new uses. For example, Dunbar at 5419 E 36th St. will serve as the new home for Carousel Cares, an adult day care facility.

Some schools such as McCoy, Ashland and West Rock Creek are to become parks through nonbinding agreements with the city. Willard and Chick, also in pacts with the city, could become future housing developments.

Among other successes:

▪ Westport Middle and Westport High schools on 39th Street west of Gillham Road will become Westport Commons: Center for Creativity and Innovation.

The multimillion-dollar project of Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners will provide incubator space for entrepreneurs, nonprofits, artists, startups, a community garden, early childhood education and others. It is a great use for that property and will serve as a new anchor for the area.

▪ Swinney, West-Switzer and Switzer Annex are now market-rate housing. For instance, Swinney, at 1106 W. 47th St., is part of a complex that includes a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments costing $975 to $2,450 a month.

Bancroft was converted into housing intended to act as a development catalyst in the Historic Manheim Park neighborhood east of Troost Avenue. Brad Pitt’s New Orleans-based Make It Right Foundation is a major partner in that project.

▪ Graceland, on the hill above Bruce R. Watkins Drive at 2803 E. 51st St., was sold to Swope Corridor Renaissance/Upper Room and opened in September 2013 as the Mary L. Kelly Center for the Town Fork Creek and Blue Hills neighborhoods. It stays busy with after-school tutoring and reading programs, exercise and dance space, high school equivalency offerings, a computer lab for the underserved part of the digital divide, and sports activities.

▪ Seven Oaks, 3711 Jackson Ave., was sold in 2013 for reuse as senior housing. Coming full circle, several of the new residents are former students of the elementary school, which was constructed in 1927.

▪ Blenheim, on the corner at Gregory Boulevard and Prospect Avenue, will be developed into affordable housing. Douglass, Longan and Pinkerton are homes to charter schools. Milton Moore is part of the W.E.B. Du Bois Learning Center, providing tutoring and other educational services.

▪ Where a long-closed and badly deteriorating Horace Mann Elementary School had stood at 39th Street and Watkins Drive for decades as an eyesore, new housing with great access to downtown is being built and opened as attractive residences.

Jaax said the school district has taken in $4.68 million from the property.

In addition, millions of private and public dollars have been pumped into the old buildings through upgrades and added construction. Many of these older buildings now are standouts in urban core neighborhoods, with solid futures of their own.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 12:19 PM with the headline "Many closed Kansas City schools get new life serving the urban core."