Future plans for the East Sac County Middle School are underway as the Sac Development Corporation hosted a kickoff meeting with Clint Sloss, Economic Development Strategist, of McClure (mcclurevision.com) and Scott Anderson, licensed architect, of FEH Design. At this meeting, Sloss and Anderson reviewed the project outline with the committee.
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Future plans for the East Sac County Middle School are underway as the Sac Development Corporation hosted a kickoff meeting with Clint Sloss, Economic Development Strategist, of McClure (mcclurevision.com) and Scott Anderson, licensed architect, of FEH Design. At this meeting, Sloss and Anderson reviewed the project outline with the committee. Sloss commented, “Many rural communities have school buildings that close and sit unused. East Sac County School District and its partners at Sac Development Corporation standout as being forward thinking and turning this soon to be vacated space into an opportunity to better the community.”
The first phase includes assessing the current condition of the property. Phase two focuses on identifying the best and highest use of the facility and then determining the financial strategy to achieve that end use. As part of this step, a variety of state and federal funding resources will be explored to determine eligibility and applicability. A market demand and demographic review will also be a part of this phase. The final phase of the project will be to market the property to potential developers with proven experience in repurposing school buildings and other similar underutilized facilities.
After the meeting, Sloss and Anderson were joined by a small group of leaders on a tour of the East Sac County Middle School facility. The group toured nearly every corner of the property from the boiler room to the library. Both Sloss and Anderson noted the meticulous care and maintenance that had been made to the property which makes for an easier transition to another use. “From what we can tell, the structure of the East Sac County Middle School is in great shape. It’s clear this facility has been well cared for over the years by the school district and its staff which makes it that much easier to transition into a new use.”
Other surprises were the overall accessibility of the facility for ADA compliance as well the depth of the stair – which can be too narrow to comply with modern building codes in many cases for a building of this vintage.
Another unique feature to note is how to repurpose the historic auditorium space. The team was very impressed with the space and believes it should be maintained as an entertainment venue but the details on how this space functions as a private enterprise are yet to be determined.
The team sees great potential in repurposing the school property and is excited to explore the variety of possibilities for repurposing this facility into something that will be a continued source of community pride.