A Florida School Crumbles
By Lauren Wilhelmi | Online Only | Aug. 6, 2008
On July 22, the roof of a beloved high school in Tampa, Fla., caved in. Gary Public Adult High School, built in 1913, has been empty for only three years.
"It's hanging by a thread," says Marian Seymour, a guidance counselor at the school's new location. "It doesn't look very good at this point."
Over the years, the deterioration of the brick building has upset many locals and preservationists.
"Tampa has never been a particularly strong preservation mecca, so we'll all be very sad and disappointed if it does come down," says Becky Clarke, president of Tampa Preservation Incorporated.
After the school relocated to a newer building in 2005, the city designated it a local historic landmark and placed it on the market. John V. Simon of JVS Construction purchased the building in 2007 with plans to gut it and turn it into an athletic facility. Simon told the Tampa Tribune that he has spent $100,000 on the building so far.
"If I can save it, that's great, and I'd like to save it … but I can't spend millions of dollars on something that's not salvageable," Simon told the newspaper before the collapse. Simon declined to comment for this story.
Locals disagree about the condition of the building. Seymour insists that "even though the building was in bad condition when it was sold …it was still salvageable."
At a hearing on July 25, Simon was granted a 15-day period to produce engineering reports from two separate contractors assessing the building's damage. If the engineering reports indicate that the former school can be repaired, Simon must brace the building's walls. If not, the case will go back to court.
In the meantime, local preservationists remain in uproar.
Fran Constantino, president of East Ybor Historic and Civic Association, calls the collapse "a historical travesty. It's just criminal because it was preventable."
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Comments
Submitted by Jim at: August 15, 2008
This was nothing but systematic deglect. The windows were NEVER closed, and NOTHING was ever done to assure the survival of this gem. I believe that this was planned all along. The owner should be thrown in jail! This is a crime against history.
Submitted by Preserve at: August 12, 2008
Sounds very similiar to what happened in Hammond Indiana with a 60,000 sq/f masonic temple. The city spent thousands of dollars on "studies" for reuse/condition and never spent any money to fix the giant hole in the roof. Now after 10 years they are using HUD money to rip it down and build a charter school exactly the same size....gotta love those 'studies' they do. Doesn't quite help to save the building, now does it?!
Submitted by Sourpower at: August 10, 2008
One rather important piece of information missing in the article is this 100k that was spent was not on spent on the building!!! Most of this money was spent on plans for what was to be done with the potential project. Windows were left broken or open, the roof was never repaired from the many leaks which slowly ate away at the inside. The building was, however, gutted of of its interior walls, doors, trim, staircase and some of its window steel support beams (which were claimed stolen).
Submitted by Ken at: August 7, 2008
John V. Simon of JVS Construction, declined comment; who would want to talk about a pending albatross; he apparently had some regard for the site potential, until the roof collapsed; now under pending building inspections, potential litigation and daily fines, he declined comment. Unless I'm missing something, is there any way the local preservationists could assist a developer, i.e., fund raisers and grant writings, or am I reading negligence on the part of the developer for the last three years of inactivity? Notwithstanding, more interest and investment in historic preservation from developers should be encouraged as a positive; maybe the community can help.