Gilroy
– School officials plan to convert two acres of Brownell Middle
School into storefronts and offices to help finance new facilities
at the school.
Gilroy – School officials plan to convert two acres of Brownell Middle School into storefronts and offices to help finance new facilities at the school.
The land targeted for development faces First Street and is now occupied by gravel softball fields. Plans submitted to City Hall in October call for a pair of two-story buildings measuring a combined 33,314 square feet, surrounded by 125 parking spaces. The ground floor will offer space for retail stores, while the second story will house offices, according to Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent for Gilroy Unified School District.
“We re-arranged everything on that campus and are able to provide all the needs of the school site,” Brinkman said.
The district hopes to raise up to half of the $3.5 million needed for improvements at Brownell by taking the land through the regulatory process, then selling it off in coming months to a developer.
The bulk of the project budget – $3 million – is set aside for a new multipurpose facility. The district also plans to demolish 10 dilapidated portable classrooms and replace them with eight new portables, construct basketball courts, and continue improvements to sidewalks and pavement.
Officials have already spent $200,000 upgrading the school site. So far, they have repaired buckled sidewalks, installed new fences, improved the health of trees, and created a “horseshoe” entrance at the school.
They plan to start construction on the multipurpose facility in April and complete the work by May 2008.
The Brownell redevelopment is part of a broader effort by the school district to finance new improvements by selling off surplus land. The agency received city permission last year to build up to 99 homes at the site of Las Animas Elementary School, funds from which will help reduce a $12 million shortfall in funds for a second high school. District officials are also considering the sale of their headquarters off Arroyo Circle, along with about 10 acres in southwest Gilroy.
“We’re having to sell all of our land assets that we have in surplus in order to help fund the facilities master plan,” Brinkman said, “and that requires us taking (the Brownell) property to its highest and best use.”
