Brookside school building may provide housing for teachers, but will it be affordable?

By Jill Draper

The Kansas City Public School District has repurposed some of its old school buildings into senior housing, low income tax credit housing and market-rate housing. Now it’s considering turning an abandoned school in Brookside into affordable apartments for teachers. 

The idea is to use such apartments as a tool to help retain teachers and attract those just entering the profession who complain that the soaring cost of housing is a barrier to working in the city. But the project might take years to accomplish and require millions of dollars for an estimated 27 to 47 units.

“They did say there would have to be some philanthropy involved,” said Mary Hutchison, a local realtor who attended a community meeting held on April 25 for input on repurposing the former Bryant School that sits at 319 Westover Road near the northeast corner of Wornall Road and W. 57th Street. 

District officials have discussed applying to place Bryant School on the National Register of Historic Places in order to qualify for tax credits. They also have discussed building new single family homes on the eastern portion of the 4-acre site, which could offset some of the renovation costs, according to their website. The new homes would be market rate.

The idea of targeting affordable housing for teachers is increasingly being looked at by other school districts throughout the nation, including Lawrence, Kansas and St. Louis. And it was noted that Guadalupe Centers has begun to build a 50-unit affordable apartment complex downtown near Hardesty Avenue and Van Brunt Drive, close to its elementary school.

Hutchison said the neighborhood surrounding Bryant School was adamant they did not want the old building torn down, and none of the approximately 50 citizens at the meeting seemed to object to the idea of turning it into apartments for teachers. On the other hand, many details remain uncertain.

Will teachers outside the KCPS District be considered for tenants? Will the project be sold and developed by a for-profit or a nonprofit? Will additional parking be needed? Is there an estimated cost? What are the next steps?

“They were kind of vague about all that,” said Hutchison, who writes a blog post called Inside Brookside (And Waldo) about new businesses and events in the area as well as home sales reports. She attended the meeting to find out if the proposed redevelopment of Bryant might affect home values in the area, concluding, “I don’t think it will be a deterrent.”

Bryant School was built between 1915-1938 and closed in 2009. It’s described as a three-story brick building with 17 classrooms plus a gym, cafeteria, auditorium and basement. Officials said they will not be seeking rezoning but will go through a special use permit process restricted to teacher housing.

While Hutchison specializes in single family home sales, she estimated that a one-bedroom unit with a parking space in the Bryant School neighborhood might easily rent for $1,800 to $2,000 a month at market rate. A survey of first-year teachers conducted by KCPS found they would prefer rents of $800 to $1,000 a month. 

The district conducted an online survey on the Bryant School proposal that ended May 17, but anyone still wishing to comment can do so at repurposing@kcpublicschools.org.

In other school repurposing news, the district’s website says that the former Southwest High building at 6512 Wornall Road might be considered for a middle school in the future, and the land where Bingham Middle School was demolished at 7618 Wyandotte Street is being explored as a possible site for a new Waldo Library. KCPS officials could not be reached for comment. See more at kcpublicschools.org/about/repurposing.