School Board could give up its stake in historic building

The Monroe County School Board is considering giving up its piece of the historic Glynn Archer School in a proposed deal that gives the local Boys and Girls Club after-school program a permanent home in Key West.

The school, 1300 White St., which the board handed over at no cost to the city in 2013, is being rebuilt as Key West City Hall in a $19 million project set for completion Oct. 10.

But the School Board held onto two buildings that once housed the gym and locker rooms, at the time saying offices could be built there after renovations.

“Now they realize they don’t want to do that,” Mayor Craig Cates said Friday. “Everybody benefits from this, the Boys and Girls Club, the School District.”

For $10, city commissioners are willing to buy those two buildings, completing the acquisition of the 1920s-era Glynn Archer site from the School District.

The School Board meets Tuesday for a 4 p.m. workshop in Key West at the A.J. Henriquez Administration Complex, 241 Trumbo Road, with the item on the agenda.

City commissioners agreed in May to renovate a building at Bayview Park for the Boys and Girls Club nonprofit, which currently is located at the Reynolds School. The move frees up the Reynolds School for the School District.

Cates proposed the building shuffle a year ago. In July, the commission approved a resolution that would give the city the rest of the Glynn Archer School property.

School officials and staff will always be welcome at the new city hall, the mayor said.

The original deal allowed the School District two offices inside the new building and use of the conference room and the renovated auditorium, which will become meeting chambers.

This story was originally published August 20, 2016 at 9:26 AM with the headline "School Board could give up its stake in historic building."