Post by Logan on Mar 21, 2016 9:22:11 GMT -6
Historic black school torn down in affordable-housing land swap
The building where countless black schoolchildren were educated during Greenville’s long history of segregation sat empty for the better part of four decades, tucked off East Stone Avenue in the shadow of the Church Street bridge.
After years of speculation and curiosity, the Allen School’s future is no longer in doubt — it is now a pile of brick rubble.
A development of 31 townhomes will take its place.
However, city leaders hope the school’s fate can be tied, if only loosely, with another legacy: affordable housing.
In a deal with a developer, the city has agreed to swap a little over half-an-acre of land next to the school site in exchange for three properties — altogether totaling about the same size — each in three different traditionally poor neighborhoods near downtown Greenville.
Read more: www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2016/03/18/historic-black-school-torn-down-affordable-housing-land-swap/81969928/
The building where countless black schoolchildren were educated during Greenville’s long history of segregation sat empty for the better part of four decades, tucked off East Stone Avenue in the shadow of the Church Street bridge.
After years of speculation and curiosity, the Allen School’s future is no longer in doubt — it is now a pile of brick rubble.
A development of 31 townhomes will take its place.
However, city leaders hope the school’s fate can be tied, if only loosely, with another legacy: affordable housing.
In a deal with a developer, the city has agreed to swap a little over half-an-acre of land next to the school site in exchange for three properties — altogether totaling about the same size — each in three different traditionally poor neighborhoods near downtown Greenville.
Read more: www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2016/03/18/historic-black-school-torn-down-affordable-housing-land-swap/81969928/