Old High School

[jporter@moscow.com (Jack Porter)]

Mike Sohns, the 1912 Moscow High School building was declared "worthless" in
a commercial sense because it would be hard for a private developer to
recoup the costs of renovation by renting it out as apartments.  But we
don't want it for apartments.  We want to build a community center.  The
justification for spending $2.9 million is that we'd get a grand and elegant
community center in a prime city-center location, rather than what we could
get for the same price in new construction somewhere out in the wheat fields.

Renovation can be more cost effective than building new, and in this case
we'd get the bonus of preserving something that can't be bought new at any
price.

Go to a City Council meeting in the beautiful restored court room at City
Hall (formerly the "old post office"), and go to a School Board meeting in
the plain square box Board Room at the new school administration building.
See what I mean?  

Jack Porter