Last November, it was announced that the Fayetteville school district designated approximately 2,600 square feet for artist studio space in the building that used to be Jefferson Elementary School. This was going to be a great use for an old, unused building, with space renting at $5 per square foot, annually. CHEAP !
I talked with some friends, and we were going to rent one of the spaces for a photo/art studio area with lots of windows, hardwood floors (coated with decades of school wax), and it was going to be a blast.
It was supposed to be available beginning January 1st.
We waited, and waited, and now two months later we finally heard the outcome.
from an email that I received this evening:
The Fayetteville Public School Board voted on a final rental price for Jefferson Elementary. The price they chose was $8 per square-foot. This price includes utilities, maintenance and other costs normally incurred with property rental. They did not take into account that not all of the building is rentable, such as hallways and stairwells. Also there are varying degrees of space quality. The following gives a breakdown of the different qualities of space and the price per square foot needed to match the school district’s needs.
Prime Space (large windows): $15.26 per square foot
Average Space (smaller windows): $9.81 per square foot
The Rest (poor lighting, no windows): $7.63 per square foot
So that’s just dandy. Now the cost is going to be TRIPLE what they originally said. The space that I was looking at is now going to be $954 a month. Way out of my price range. Especially for something in that area of town.
Well, there goes that great idea. Too bad, it would’ve been great to have a real studio somewhere. It sounds to me that the local Public School system has other plans – putting this outside the price range of people who would use the space is a sure-fire way to kill off the entire project. I’ll expect condos to appear in the former Jefferson Elementary within the next few years.
Really the best and safest thing to do would be to raze the building. There are large gaps/holes in the walls, the mortar is falling apart, the floors (except the poured concrete ones) are warping, deteriorating and look worse everytime I’m there.