New hope for Claflin restoration

Claflin School on Fifth Avenue in Columbus is an irreplaceable historic site. It’s where the city’s first school for black children was established by the Freedmen’s Bureau after the Civil War.

Though the original structure was destroyed by fire, it was replaced in 1958 by the building that stands there still. But that structure has deteriorated badly, despite efforts of local preservationists, specifically the Friends of Historic Claflin, to save and restore it.

One of the challenges FHC faces, aside from the obvious one of raising enough money for the considerable cost of restoring and renovating the building, is a legal one: A federal deed restriction limits use of the current building to educational purposes, which prompts questions about how narrowly “educational” has to be defined. (The site has undisputed historic significance — it is on the Georgia Register of Historic Preservation, the state’s 10 Places in Peril and the National Historic Register — which makes it “educational” by definition.)

Still, that limitation had led the city to decide it would deed the property back to the federal government until FHC came along and leased the building from the city for $1 a year.

Now somebody else has come along to help FHC, and maybe the city, in not just preserving this important venue but expanding it into a multipurpose amenity.

As reported by staff writer Alva James-Johnson, an affordable housing developer called Oracle Consulting has stepped forward with a plan to use low-income housing tax credits to use part of the site for apartment units, while using other parts of the building for traditional educational purposes and historic features along National Parks Service standards.

Two things the city can do to make this happen, Oracle acquisitions director Steve Henry told Columbus Council, are to increase the FHC lease from the current 10 years to a 45-year term to improve its prospects for tax credit financing, and to rezone the property to allow for the residential part of the plan.

A third change is not one Columbus can make, but it is one the city can request: getting Washington to ease the restrictions on use of the property.

Given the possibilities, that last seems eminently reasonable, not that reasonable and bureaucracy are words that frequently appear in the same sentence. Federal regulations limit use of the building to educational purposes – what if the Claflin School site can be an educational venue and a lot more?

Time is a factor here; it’s mid-April, and this year’s deadline for tax credit application is in May. City officials have said they will review the FHC lease and respond to Oracle and FHC before then.

Time also continues to exact its inexorable toll on the old school building. It would be a shame to miss this opportunity to halt and reverse that process, now that someone has stepped forward with a plan for investing in the future of such an important part of our past.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "New hope for Claflin restoration."