Bust a Monroe
For those that dig a little neighborhood architectural deathwatch:
According to a recent post on the Columbia Heights listserv, the doomed Bruce Monroe Elementary School is scheduled for demolition this week.
Details from the post:
--Demolition of the Bruce Monroe School is supposed to start on/or around July 15, 2009. (A press conference is being planned at the site the morning that demolition starts.)
--Demolition will take approximately three (3) months. (Work will proceed every Monday - Saturday from 7 AM to 7 PM. Signs will go up around the site.)
--Solicitation of construction bids will begin on July, 15, 2009. It will take 60 to 75 after the closing of the bids to evaluate them. A contract may be awarded by the end of 2009. The contract has to be approved by the DC City Council.
--The site will be redeveloped as a school with commercial and/or residential construction on the Georgia Avenue side of the property through a public/private partnership. The school will have 75,000 to 100,000 square feet of space.
--The new Bruce Monroe Elementary School is tenatively scheduled to open in 2013. It's educational programs will include grades Pre-K through 5 or grades Pre-K through 8 (to be worked out by the school system and the school community.)
***Active discussions are taking place between the Chancellor's Office, DCPS, Bruce Monroe administrators, teachers, and parents, the DC Education Ombudsman's Office, Councilman Gray's office, Councilman Kwame Brown's office, DC economic develpment officials, and the community.
This thing is quite the behemoth. I've only been inside as far as the room they've been using as our local polling center, but it always felt a little "tired" in there. It's certainly not the worst of our public school buildings, but it's not the best either.
I'll keep an eyeball on this since it's close to IA Headquarters, and the idea of commercial property on the Georgia Avenue side of the site is intriguing.
So stay tuned for a little demolition porn once the bricks begin to fall. For now, some pix of the doomed thing for posterity:
Above: Georgia Avenue facade
Above: South view from Irving Street
Above: Looking west along the Irving Street side
4 comments:
I live across the street (pretty much) from the school. I'll post a comment if I see anything of interest over the next weeks/months.
Nooooo! 10,000 dump trucks full of that school chugging down my street on the way to the dump!
Angry Parakeet on Irving
Anon no.1: Thanks for any comments as they do this... I figure that would be a weird scene to watch from a front porch for a few months.
Angry P.: Good point. Or maybe Rhee has an antimatter cannon in her bag o'tricks? Just neutralize the whole thing in a blinding flash of light, & replace it with an Indian curry/buffet?
In the meantime, I'll be ready for the Irving Street convoy...
good riddance to horrible, horrible design for a major urban thoroughfare. i just hope the replacement can truly engage the street...
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