Alamance-Burlington school officials outlined possible plans for declaring the former Sellars-Gunn Education Center along Apple Street in Burlington as surplus property, citing mounting expenses to operate the facility.
School officials said Tuesday afternoon Sellars-Gunn is currently used for academic and student services offices, as well as a “mini-warehouse” for Melgar Facility Management (MFM), a contracted janitorial service for ABSS. Sellars Gunn had served as the alternative school for ABSS until 2012, when it moved to Ray Street Academy in Graham.
“The building does need significant work. . .
“I think as a school district we need to let that whole school go. Unfortunately, that building needs a lot of work. When you look at a boiler or HVAC [system], that could be a $40,000 to $50,000 cost if it’s not running right.”– ABSS superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming
Citing mounting costs – including $200,000 in annual utility expenses, school officials said Tuesday that ABSS could save about $100,000 per year if those services currently housed at Sellars-Gunn were moved elsewhere.
“The Alamance County African-American Cultural Arts [and History] Center has an interest in part or all of it,” ABSS superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming told school board members during their latest semi-monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon, acknowledging that Sellars-Gunn “is an historic Rosenwald site.”
The former J.F. Gunn Elementary School and Jordan Sellars High School, which were built in 1942 and 1954, respectively, had served black students exclusively prior to desegregation.
Construction of both schools was financed by the Rosenwald Fund, a charitable foundation bankrolled by Julius Rosenwald (one of the original owners of Sears, Roebuck & Company) to build schools to educate black children, predominantly in the rural South.
Both schools were closed in the early 1970s, based on a historic marker that the Jordan Sellars Class Reunion and Historical Fund paid to have erected near the intersection of Apple and Rosenwald streets in Burlington in 2017.
School officials had most recently discussed the possibility of renovating Sellars-Gunn in March 2022, when the cost was estimated at $7.4 million, based on figures presented to the school board at the time.
There’d been talk in years past about converting part of Sellars-Gunn into a conference or community center, but the facility would require a lift to meet federal accessibility regulations, as well as current building codes, based on information that was provided to the school board in 2022.
The $7.4 million cost to renovate Sellars-Gunn that had been estimated in 2022 would’ve potentially funded: an addition; repairs to bring the building into compliance with ADA regulations; asbestos abatement in existing classrooms and replacement of asbestos tile; new heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems throughout; new plumbing; new acoustical ceiling tiles with LED lighting; electrical upgrades; a new entrance façade and exterior window replacements; and resurfacing and re-striping the parking lot, based on a preliminary estimate that Pinnacle Architects of Matthews had developed for ABSS.
“The building does need significant work,” Fleming told the board Tuesday, adding that he and ABSS chief operations officer Greg Hook have been talking with the Alamance County African-American Cultural Arts and History Center, as well as the school system’s lawyers, about the possibility of declaring the property surplus and disposing it.
In years past, previous school board members had floated the idea partnering with Alamance County government or community groups to turn Sellars Gunn into a community center.
School board member Seneca Rogers picked up that thread Tuesday afternoon. “I would like to see the building be a resource and a space for the folks around it,” he said. “You have an alumni group that does a lot of things; they even donate money and [volunteer] with the school district. I would like to see whether they’re interested in being involved with it. Them being able to bring it back to life…would be amazing.”
School board member Dr. Charles Parker characterized the idea of continuing to spend money to operate the facility as a “cost-sink.”
“You don’t want to prune a dead tree,” Parker said, suggesting that ABSS needs to find a way to divest itself of the property completely.
Fleming agreed. “I think as a school district we need to let that whole school go,” he said. “Unfortunately, that building needs a lot of work. When you look at a boiler or HVAC [system], that could be a $40,000 to $50,000 cost if it’s not running right.”
The school board’s attorney, Adam Mitchell of the Tharrington Smith law firm in Raleigh, said Tuesday afternoon that there are a number of procedures that state law requires local units of government to follow when disposing of surplus property. “We can work with you all to take whatever steps are necessary,” he assured the board.
Generally, state law provides three methods of disposal of surplus property owned by local governments: sealed bids, which requires the property to be advertised for sale via sealed bids for at least 30 days; upset bids, by which the governing body adopts a resolution to accept an offer but must accept an offer at least 10 percent or higher submitted within 10 days of the advertisement of the original bid, which starts the process over again; and a public auction, either live or electronically, for which a public notice must be advertised at least 30 days in advance.
