Studer Community Institute

Brownsville Middle demolition could be on the way

April 14, 2015
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ education

This month, the Escambia School Board could be asked to move forward on the demolition of Brownsville Middle School. Bids went out to demolish the building, which has been closed as a school since 2007, late last year. School district officials were set to move on awarding the bid to A.E. New Jr. Inc. in January. An offer from GSI Brokerage to buy the property came in , but Superintendent Malcolm Thomas recommended against selling the property to GSI at the March 17 School Board meeting. GSI Brokerage is the financial arm of GSI Recycling, which owns a scrap yard across Hollywood Avenue from the Brownsville Middle property, which is also adjacent to Oakcrest Elementary School. Thomas said he had misgivings that the sale was in the best interest of the district given the proximity to Oakcrest, which has about 700 students and whose enrollment has been growing in recent years. Two other attempts to sell the building fizzled. In 2009, the Rev. LuTimothy May and his congregation at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church offered $800,000 to buy the building. The district made a counteroffer of a little more than $1 million but the deal fell apart in acrimony. In 2014, the Rev. Paul Porterfield of Body of Christ Ministries Inc. offered $500,000 to buy the property. That deal was scuttled when Porterfield could not complete the financing, Thomas says. Vandals have damaged it often over the years, including once before the district would have signed off on the Porterfield sale. Thomas has said he has been in touch with A.E. New Jr. since the board members unanimously rejected the offer from GSI. They have indicated they would still perform the work for the price in the bid sheet. For $174,000, A.E. New Jr. will demolish the building and remove the pavement and curbing on the north side of the building, as well as the bus loop and curbing on the south side of the building. Thomas said the property will be more useful in the long-term with building gone. “Then we’ll have latitude to make plans for Oakcrest and or the community” with regards to that property, Thomas said. The School Board’s next regular meeting is April 21 at 5:30 p.m.

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Brownsville Middle demolition could be on the way

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