Update on Annie Lytle Preservation Group

[Timkin]

This Year, the Annie Lytle Preservation  Group was selected to win a Historic Preservation Award.  We are humbled and thankful for the recognition.  Our group continues to whittle away at the work...the years of decay and debris that is leaving the building, forever .   It is possible we may see the tear out and cleanout portion complete by year end.  Simultaneously, we are painting the trim areas of the School and doing simple repairs  The Columns and planters on the Chelsea Street side entrance have been repainted, fresh soil and plants including Iris and Society Garlic planted there. the solid concrete knee wall surrounding the base of the building, long tagged various colors and painted over in contrasting various colors has a new, fresh cream -color  coat of paint as does the stair rails ,etc. In terms of clean out , 2 classrooms , upper level remain to clean out. Lower level , 5 remain , plus the soil in the floor of the Auditorium .  We have been doing spot repairs on the roof system and will continue to , on the main building so as to keep water out of the main areas .   We have to remove the failing remaining roof directly over the stage.  Last fall 2 doors, locks, a ramp was added to finally bring the school under lock down so that our work wouldnt get messed up or our equipment messed with.  we can finally say that Annie is no longer abandoned. she is getting a lot of love these days. 

Please feel free to follow our progress on our website: www.savepublicschoolnumber4.com .   I am very proud of my team and their progress , determination, and the love they have for this amazing 98 year old structure. 

The Annie Lytle Preservation Group, Deeply appreciates Metrojacksonville.com for being the amazing online media site that it is, and for allowing us to post for all these years, our progress.. and if you go by Annie Lytle these days , its impossible not to see the progress.  Stay with us.  we intend to make the School Beautiful again .

[Noone]

just an update. Spoke with the code enforcement people and I got them to agree to defer the fines for a set number of years as well as give me time to make the repairs without the worries of incurring fines should the owners come to a deal with me. The current status is a rolling fine was put in place in may of 01. I also have other information,I will only disclose to the group in person due to the nature of the matter so if you are a Annie lytle supporter I encourage you to come out tomorrow.

Congratulations on Annie Lytle.

At the 4/2/14 Noticed meeting on new docking Rules for Downtown it was announced that the new docks on the Southbank will have one vendor with a 10 year no compete clause and at the same time a handout is being distributed that also points out that a violation of this docking Rule could result in the immediate seizure of your watercraft by numerous other governmental agencies.

Can you come to a CRA/DIA meeting and request that just 10' of the new yet to be built docks on the Southbank 2014-190 will  allow for a 24/7 drop off or pick up of a commercial watercraft without immediately being subject to a seizure?

Thank you. The next CRA/DIA meeting is in 3 days 5/7/14 at 3 pm 1st floor city hall.

One year later. Now we have active legislation 2015-230 Palms Fish Camp and ACTIVE legislation. It is on the agenda for the 4/15/15 Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting then a Public Hearing on 4/28/15. This is next to a FIND project. we are so LOST.  These Backroom deals are better than FDIC insured. (Friends of Downtown Investment Committee)

Visit Jacksonville!

PS4 will soon be out the door.

Stay positive.

Plan on doing a RICO loop Downtown. Special shout out to anyone outside of Duval county.

[menace1069]

I know that I am jumping into this thread late and I don't really have the time to read through all of the previous posts, but what is the overall plan for the school once it is preserved? Is the thought that it will be a museum or something of the sorts? A community center? What's the plan for it? It looks really cool and I look at it every time I zip past it on 95. The former auditorium would be a bad ass courtyard once cleaned up. Just wondering what the overall vision was for it. Whatever it is, I wish it well.

Looking forward to the replies.

[sheclown]

This Year, the Annie Lytle Preservation  Group was selected to win a Historic Preservation Award.  We are humbled and thankful for the recognition.  Our group continues to whittle away at the work...the years of decay and debris that is leaving the building, forever .   It is possible we may see the tear out and cleanout portion complete by year end.  Simultaneously, we are painting the trim areas of the School and doing simple repairs  The Columns and planters on the Chelsea Street side entrance have been repainted, fresh soil and plants including Iris and Society Garlic planted there. the solid concrete knee wall surrounding the base of the building, long tagged various colors and painted over in contrasting various colors has a new, fresh cream -color  coat of paint as does the stair rails ,etc. In terms of clean out , 2 classrooms , upper level remain to clean out. Lower level , 5 remain , plus the soil in the floor of the Auditorium .  We have been doing spot repairs on the roof system and will continue to , on the main building so as to keep water out of the main areas .   We have to remove the failing remaining roof directly over the stage.  Last fall 2 doors, locks, a ramp was added to finally bring the school under lock down so that our work wouldnt get messed up or our equipment messed with.  we can finally say that Annie is no longer abandoned. she is getting a lot of love these days. 

Please feel free to follow our progress on our website: www.savepublicschoolnumber4.com .   I am very proud of my team and their progress , determination, and the love they have for this amazing 98 year old structure. 

The Annie Lytle Preservation Group, Deeply appreciates Metrojacksonville.com for being the amazing online media site that it is, and for allowing us to post for all these years, our progress.. and if you go by Annie Lytle these days , its impossible not to see the progress.  Stay with us.  we intend to make the School Beautiful again .

hooray!!!!

[urbaknight]

I think it should be reused as a school of some sort, perhaps an art school.

[Dog Walker]

It was offered to Savannah College of Art and Design which has extension campuses in Atlanta, Florence, Italy and Hong Kong, but was turned down.

The least expensive alternative for restoring the school is to turn it back into a school since that would take the least conversion.

[jaxlore]

Interesting article on what to do with empty schools from NPR

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/28/426735945/the-struggle-to-breathe-life-back-into-empty-schools
Virginia Savage lives in a part of north St. Louis, Mo., that's filled with vacant buildings, including Marshall Elementary. It has been closed for years now, and vines crawl into the building's smashed-out windows. The playground is littered with empty liquor bottles.

Savage went to school at Marshall as a young girl, and now she sees bigger problems beyond all those blemishes: "Drug dealers, drug users, eyesore. That's what I see."

In St. Louis, the student enrollment is one-fourth the size it was in the 1960s. That drop has led the district to close 30 or so schools.

It's the same story across the country in cities like Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago, where district leaders are facing the big question — what to do with all of those empty schools?

Savage volunteers at a neighborhood church that used to be a vacant school, too. So she doesn't just see problems, she also sees potential. "Apartments, room for the homeless, a community center," she says. "There's a lot that can go on with this building."

Empty buildings are difficult to secure, they can attract crime, and they fall apart quickly. So St. Louis Public Schools rounded up a group of volunteer architects, contractors and community health experts to pitch developers and lure investors into doing something with these places.

And because this all boils down to real estate, the first thing to do was throw a bunch of open houses at schools like Eliot Elementary, another stately historic school. It's more than 100 years old and classic St. Louis with an impressive stature, deep red brick and thick, wrought iron.

It probably sounds like a steal at $260,000, but it's also what you might call an ultimate fixer-upper.

The school closed 10 years ago, and inside, insulation is scattered across the floor. The sub-ceiling is down, paint is stripped off the walls, all the copper is out of the building and the alarm system has been ripped out. It looks like the set from a post-apocalyptic film.

"Post-something," says Walker Gaffney, director of real estate for St. Louis Public Schools. "Post-population flight, post-declining enrollment and diminishing resources."

It might seem logical to just tear the place down, but Gaffney says that wouldn't be a good use of money. "The cost of tearing this buildings down is very prohibitive — anywhere from a half million dollars up to a million," Gaffney says. "This was a temple of learning that was built to last hundreds and hundreds of years."

That's learning that many say could continue with one obvious group of potential buyers: charter public schools, which have seen increasing enrollment.

The district used to have a rule against selling empty schools to charters, but that's no longer the case. Yet some in the charter community say St. Louis Public Schools is still rejecting their offers.

The Eliot building is falling apart, but hints of the past still line the surface — like this old mural visible through the peeling paint.
The Eliot building is falling apart, but hints of the past still line the surface — like this old mural visible through the peeling paint.
Tim Lloyd/ St. Louis Public Radio
Gaffney says there's no unwritten rule against charters and it's all about competitive offers. "Now, is the district going to give buildings away?" Gaffney asks. "No. This is the list price; make me an offer."

So far the district's plan to lure investors has been working. A few deals are in the works to renovate old schools into apartments, offices and artist spaces.

But there's still much more work to be done.

Jessica Eiland is another community member tasked with finding investors. She runs Northside Community Housing Inc., a nonprofit that builds homes in the area around Marshall Elementary in north St. Louis.

And while she acknowledges it can be a huge challenge to breathe life back into these buildings, she also says redeveloping a 50,000-square-foot vacant school like Marshall could have a domino effect.

"It could be the catalyst to get other people thinking, 'You know what, I should invest my resources on this side of the community.' "

Because the last thing any school was meant to do is bring problems into a neighborhood.

[PATSY/AUTUMN]

Annie Lytle Preservation Group continues in its efforts.  In 2015, the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission nominated us for an award.  This was the FIRST time a Volunteer group had ever been nominated!  Not only nominated, but to win! 
Last Saturday, we held an event which brought people from as far as Miami and Tampa to assist in clean-up.  Thanks goes to David Bullet (Abandoned Florida) for arranging this.  Also, among our volunteers for the day Kim Pryor and Cheryl McCain of Preservation SOS.
We are not giving up and still have hopes.  Many photos of the event can be seen on "Photos By Big Cheese of Annie Lytle" on FaceBook

[PATSY/AUTUMN]

On the above comment, I neglected to also mention our friend and associate, known here as "Dog Walker" who was also present.  His efforts behind the scenes are amazing!

[MEGATRON]

Please tear this thing down already.

[JaxUnicorn]

Please tear this thing down already.

^^^ Troll......  history always needs to be preserved.

[urbaknight]

Is that dog park still planned to open right near that building? If so, why not repurpose the building into something that compliments the park, (a multi use facility) such as an obedience school, animal hospital, pet supply store, registration and licensing facility and some kind or eatery and bar for the humans.