Environmental remediation work is underway on fire-damaged school By Jeramey Jannene - Apr 9th, 2021 05:32 pm //end headline wrapper ?>William McKinley School as seen from the south. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
The windows are boarded up on the former William McKinley School, 2001 W. Vliet St., and that’s a good thing.
The condition of the former school has been described as the worst ever seen and the quintessential definition of blight by a series of city officials involved in moving a $12.6 million redevelopment of the property forward.
But why save it? For one, it would be more expensive for the city to demolish it.
Worst building ever seen by city DNS will be turned into 35 apartments. By Jeramey Jannene - Feb 9th, 2021 10:25 am //end headline wrapper ?>McKinley School and planned homes. Photo by Jeramey Jannene. Elevations by Quorum Architects.
The complicated plan to redevelop the fire-damaged William McKinley School, 2001 W. Vliet St., received its final design approvals Monday. The Historic Preservation Commission signed off on plans for the building’s exterior and four new homes to be built on the north end of the property.
The $12.6 million project centers on redeveloping the school, completed in 1885, into 35 affordable apartments for families of deployed military personnel. Four market-rate, three-bedroom homes would be built along W. Vliet St. and sold for approximately $150,000 each.