Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
With more than $3 million already invested in the restoration of Old Monticello High School – more commonly known as the A-Building – some officials are wondering if the historic structure will be completed by the county’s bicentennial celebration in 2027.
That at least was one of the questions posed by County Manager Shannon Metty to the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, Jan. 5.
“It would be amazing if we could get that building finished in the next four years,” Metty said, adding that if that wasn’t something that the officials saw as feasible, or the funds couldn’t be secured, maybe it was time to reevaluate the entire project.
Metty’s comments were part of a brief update on the A-Building that she gave the board in response to a citizen’s questions at an earlier meeting. The citizen had asked if the project had fallen through the cracks, given the lack of attention paid to it in the last year or so.
Metty in her update said that the county’s current architectural firm was trying to secure the building’s architectural plans so that further work could be undertaken. She did not address the success of the effort or the whereabouts of the plans, which were drawn several years ago by another architectural firm.
She also mentioned a $500,000 state grant that the county is supposed to receive soon for the restoration work. Word of the $500,000 grant award has in fact been in the wind for some time. As of yet, however, the money has to arrive.
The commissioners did not comment on Metty’s presentation, as it was intended primarily for information. The issue of the historic A-Building is one that is normally relegated to the backburner, but that periodically flares up.
Since 1999, when the building’s renovation and restoration began, nearly $3 million in state and federal funding plus $600,000 in local contributions have been pumped into the work, not including the latest $500,000.
Per a cost estimate provided by the previous architect in 2018, the building was at the time 50 percent complete and could cost another $4 millions or more to finish, depending on a number of factors.
These factors, the then architect said, included rising costs in labor and materials, as well as unforeseen problems and obstacles that could occur, such as the water intrusion problem, which was already evident in 2018.
This latest infusion of $500,000 is coming from the Division of Historical Resources in the Florida Department of State. Originally, however, this money was part of a larger amount that was awarded to the National Park Service (NPS) in the U. S. Department of Interior in 2019 as part of the Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund and Hurricane Michael Recovery Fund.
Of which funding, the NPS awarded the Florida Division of Historical Resources $10,200,000, and the latter made $8,054,000 of it available to local governments “for recovery, repair and disaster mitigation activities directed at historic properties damaged during Hurricane Michael” in October, 2018.
Jefferson County, in its application to the state for the $500,000, noted the flooding damage caused to the A-Building by the rains from Hurricane Michael.
Per the requirements of the grant, the funding must be used to repair and mitigate against future damage to the building. Among the permitted uses for the money are the disassembly and storage of the reusable portions of the wood floors on the first and second levels and the staircase; demolition and removal of the existing concrete basement floor slab; installation of a new drainage system; and waterproofing of the interior walls of the basement spaces.
Some of the funding may additionally be used for geotechnical services, including soil borings, soil testing, groundwater measurements and an intensive survey of the underground piping within the building’s footprint and throughout the site.
The latter is to identify, if possible, the causes of the flooding and water infiltration problems in the building basement.
The new money is generally supposed to go towards the repair of the building’s east wing, where the water intrusion has caused extensive damage. Part of the work also will entail waterproofing the wing against future water-related damage.
The effort to restore the building began in 1999 under the leadership of the school district, which formally owns the building. The county, however, has been involved in the restoration effort since 2012, when it negotiated a lease/purchase agreement for the historic structure with the school district.
Since its takeover of the building, the county has put at least $1,800,000 into the restoration, $1,200,000 of it in state funding and $600,000 in local contributions.
Built in 1852 from bricks handcrafted by slaves at a nearby plantation, the A-Building served as this community’s high school until 1985, when it was shuttered because of safety concerns over its structural integrity.
It is today recognized as the oldest brick schoolhouse still standing in Florida.