Hudson Heritage Association asks for 12 months to develop plan to preserve old school
The Hudson Heritage Association is asking the board of education to hold off on deciding what to do with its historic 1927 school building while it comes up with a plan to convert it into a community center.
And if that effort fails, the association is asking the school board to consider tearing the building down before it agrees to a developer's plan to convert it to town homes concealed behind the building's facade.
Presentations by both the HHA and Liberty Development Co. took place during a 2 1/2 hour Hudson Board of Education work session Monday. The issue will next be discussed Dec. 13 at the board's regular meeting.
The school building is off Oviatt Street at one end of the school district's modernized complex of buildings east of downtown. The former high school most recently served as as the oldest part of the district's middle school. A new middle school was built nearby in 2020.
More: District leaders weighing options for preserving, reusing old middle school
The district for several years has been looking at ways to preserve the former school building and Liberty Development Co. has submitted a plan to preserve the building's facade facing Oviatt Street.
Under that plan, the remaining 3/4 of the building would be demolished, leaving the remaining portion to be incorporated into five town homes. The rebuilt structure would conceal eight carriage homes to be built on the property.
Liberty Development Co. vice president Dru Siley said the plan is the best way to preserve at least part of the structure.
He said the town home development the firm is proposing would cost between $7 million and $8 million, bringing about $100,000 in property tax revenue per year.
He said it is also the only way his firm could come up with to redevelop the site while preserving the building facade and providing indoor parking, a necessity for that market in Ohio's winter climate.
From demolition to preservation
After the school district's 2016 master facility plan proposed demolishing the building, the Hudson Heritage Association began rallying support for its preservation.
By 2020, the school district asked real estate development firms to come up with proposals to preserve the building. The association responded by proposing the building be repurposed as a cultural arts center. Later in 2020, the district received a proposal from Liberty Development.
Christopher Bach, HHA co-president, said Liberty's current proposal "sets a low bar" for preservation in the city.
"This is not historic preservation and it would set a dangerous precedent that could, over time, put many of Hudson’s most important and historic homes and buildings at risk," he said.
HHA would develop business plan
If the board of education decides on the moratorium, HHA would, through the consulting firm Webb Management Services, prepare a business plan for the programming, operation and financial support of the community center.
HHA would pay for the study, along with building maintenance and operational costs, including security.
The plan would include potential partnerships, a proposed operating budget out to five years after opening, along with funding strategies to keep it in operation. It would look into potential federal and state historic tax credits and also "solicit interest from preservation-minded developers for the building's adaptive reuse."
The study would also include an economic impact analysis.
Board members suggested HHA might want to solicit binding pledges of financial support from donors as part of its proposal.
HHA said the new center would not compete with the Barlow Community Center, as "maintenance/operating costs and program uses could potentially shift over to the 1927 building," allowing the city to redevelop the Barlow Community Center property.
Regarding traffic, HHA said the community center's functions would be no different than school events that have been ongoing for decades, and that traffic in the neighborhood has already decreased following 2009 demolition of an adjacent elementary school.
From preservation to demolition
HHA representatives also said that the five-acre property was transferred from Western Reserve Academy to the Hudson Board of Education in 1926 on condition that the property is to be used only for public school purposes.
To that end, HHA is recommending that if the building cannot be spared, the property continue to be used as an educational asset by building an open-air amphitheater on the site.
Representatives said the proposal would be in keeping with the historic use of the property.
The amphitheater would be built within the footprint of the 1927 building, with a stone stage and tiered seating, along with lawn seating and a pedestrian access via Elm Street.
No time frame for a decision is set, but public comment will be allowed at the board of education's Dec. 13 meeting.
Eric Marotta can be reached at 330-541-9433, or emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hudson Heritage Association asks for 12 months to plan community center
