After selling the current Birmingham Public Schools Administration Building, located on 550 West Merrill, to The Surnow Company, LLC, BPS is considering five different options for relocation, all of which involve utilizing space in one of the district’s two high schools.
Rough estimates of each option’s cost range from $85,000 to $1.2 million, according to a presentation at the May 4 BPS study session.
“We don’t have a definite location decided yet,” BPS Spokesperson Marcia Wilkinson said. “[But] it’s pretty clear that it will be one of the high schools.”
Most of the focus, according to both Wilkinson and BPS Superintendent David Larson, is on the Birmingham Conference Center located at Groves.
Three of the five proposed options involve using at least some of the conference center’s space, ranging from using an approximated 1070 square feet of the conference center to taking over the entire facility.
Only two of the options -- using space at Seaholm or building an addition on to Groves -- do not affect the conference center in some way
If only part of the conference center is used, the district estimates that five Groves classrooms would be lost to make room for the rest of the central administration.
Replacing the entire conference center offers the most space -- 8800 square feet -- and the projected expense of $875,000 is less costly than relocating to Seaholm or adding on to Groves.
While the square footage and accessibility offered by the space currently occupied by the conference center is the most appealing, Larson said the value of the conference center makes the decision more difficult.
“We like [the idea of relocating to] the conference center, but they also recognize the importance of seeing what the economy does,” Larson said. “If there’s growth and the economy’s robust…there would be a bigger demand for the conference center.”
Each option comes with its own problems, some more apparent than others.
“They’ve identified problematic issues with three to four of the five finalists,” Larson said.
Seaholm’s basement offers a large amount of unutilized space, but its estimated $1.2 million cost and the subsequent relocation of storage, ESL rooms and Japanese school resources, among other things, make it less desirable.
Using Seaholm’s special education wing was also proposed. Though conservative estimates predict it would cost only $85,000, the special education program would have to be relocated, and its limited amount of space make it a less viable option as well.
Despite the setbacks, Larson said the Board of Education is determined to make a decision.
“They’re moving deliberately at the decisionmaking,” Larson said. “We’re committed to it.”
Wilkinson said the central administration would be able to lease the current Administration Building, which sold for $2.7 million, while looking for a new location.
“We’ll be able to lease it back while we’re trying to get our new home, wherever that is, ready for us,” Wilkinson said.
Though the actual lease cost will not be determined until the closing of the sale, it is estimated to be about $13,000 a month, according to Wilkinson.
In addition, repairs may need to be made to the building, though Wilkinson said that nothing has been decided yet.
“There will be more of a thorough examination of the building by the new buyer,” Wilkinson said. “But at this time I don’t know of anything that’s pending.”
Still, the building’s age may make some changes necessary.
“It is, obviously, an older building, and we have the same boiler that we’ve had for years and years,” Wilkinson said, “Depending on the exact nature of the new buyer’s use of the building, that’ll determine…what kind of construction or repairs or remodeling he’ll have to do.”
