Timeline extended for renovation of Claflin School
The effort to preserve and renovate the old Claflin School has been granted a delay by the city.
A group of citizens known as Friends of Historic Claflin have been working to restore the building but have had to extend the timeline the city agreed to last year. The FHC originally hoped to reopen the building in 2018, but now say 2020 is a more realistic goal.
The main obstacle the group faces is raising an estimated $10.5 million needed to restore the dilapidated building.
Claflin, situated on the site of the first public school for black children, has been closed down for years and is in considerable disrepair. The school district deeded the property back to the city in 2013, but because of deed restrictions mandating that it be used for educational purposes, the city had no need for it.
The FHC asked the city in 2014 to lease the building to them and allow them to begin the process of restoring it. The city granted the $1 a year lease and the FHC submitted a timeline for the project.
According to an update presented recently to Columbus Council, the timeline called for the building to be stabilized in late 2015 to early 2016, but that work has not yet started. It is now slated to be done between January and June of 2017. Restoration of the facility, which was to be done between March of 2016 and March of 2017 has been delayed until July through November of 2018.
Preparing the building for occupation was to have been done between April 2017 and April 2018. That is now slated to be done between December of 2018 and December of 2019.
The grand opening, which was scheduled for 2018 is now set for May of 2020.
The FHC has conducted Phase I of environmental testing on the building and received a state grant to conduct Phase II of the testing. They also have installed a construction fence around the site to secure the property from vagrants and vandals.
They are also in the process of establishing a board of trustees to assist with fundraising and are talking with an Atlanta consulting firm that assists with raising money for such projects.
Mike Owen: 706-571-8570, @mikeowenle
This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Timeline extended for renovation of Claflin School."