Dennis Devore has lived across the street from William N. Byers Junior High School for 20 years. While the school was open, Devore said, he encountered problems such as drug dealing right across the street from his home.
But since the school closed in 2003 — it operated as the Denver School for the Arts at that time — Devore said the abandoned building has brought a new set of issues to the neighborhood surrounding his west Washington Park residence.
Despite the boarded-up ground-level windows, homeless people still break inside to sleep, residents said.
Also, “there are taggers,” Devore said. “They hit it every few weeks.”
Despite the disrepair of the school, residents love the property, which retains its classic 1920s veneer. A registered Denver historical landmark constructed in 1921, the school and its grounds have become a spot for locals to run their dogs, picnic and play basketball on the school’s dilapidated but usable basketball hoops.
“It’s a really nice old building,” Devore said.
Sites strategic for neighbors
That contradiction is common for residents living near the handful of shuttered public schools still owned by Denver Public Schools; the buildings may be unsightly, but residents love them. Furthermore, if they’re redeveloped just right, homeowners hope they could become a boon to their neighborhoods.
Redevelopment of the old schools “can have an impact on home prices in the area around the school,” said Gary Horvath, a researcher with the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business.
Already, there’s a new crop of public schools that could be going on the market.
Last week, the school district received the results of a study it commissioned with the Colorado chapter of the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit agency, which recommended the sale of up to 10 pieces of DPS property.
The study looked at 12 pieces of property, including six unused schoolhouses and other DPS property. In most of the cases, the study recommended the district sell the properties, including the Byers school, immediately.
Some properties, including the Career Learning Academy in the Highlands and Rosedale Elementary School near the Harvard Gulch golf course on South Broadway, would be ideal to convert into residential spaces, according to the study.
But they don’t necessarily need to be residential developments. Residents around Gove Middle School on East 14th Avenue support nearby National Jewish Health taking over the property.
Other property, such as the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, located in an early-20th-century building occupying an entire downtown block at 1250 Welton St., would be ideal for businesses seeking to expand. Emily Griffith is still open, but the report recommends relocating it to sell the building.
“People have done lots of these kinds of property,” said Mark Levine, a professor in the real-estate department at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. “If they’re done well, they can be attractive to the surrounding area.”
Earlier school-redevelopment proj ects such as the old Stevens Elementary School next to Congress Park have proved there is a market for such efforts. The school was redeveloped into $100-per-square-foot lofts as its neighborhood turned into some of central Denver’s priciest real estate.
Residents push development
Residents around the current batch of unused DPS schools know this.
In the case of the Byers school, residents were instrumental in getting the city to sell an empty dirt lot once used by the Byers school to a developer that planned to put in homes starting at around $400,000.
Already, several other developments, such as the old apartment building across the street from the empty lot, have been converted into condominiums.
Devore said a couple of developers have already approached neighborhood groups with ideas for development of the Byers school.
Still, redeveloping schools into private property could backfire on raising property values, some experts note.
For example, property values are also influenced by factors such as the proximity of schools, noted CU’s Horvath.
“If you look at two of the state’s top school districts, Cherry Creek and the Boulder school district, those are also in areas where the housing prices are the highest,” said Horvath.
