School board backs sale of Alvord campus
Plans for old school building close to Railyard are unclear
The Santa Fe school board on Tuesday voted 5-0 to approve a contract to sell the vacant Alvord Elementary School for some $2.55 million to real estate broker David Barker, although the agreement doesn’t specify any future use for the property at Paseo de Peralta at Alarid Street, just west of the Santa Fe Railyard.
The deal calls for Barker to put down a $25,000 deposit within 10 days, and another $25,000 following an inspection period that ends Jan. 15. The balance is to be paid at the closing date, which will be determined between the parties.
Kristy Janda-Wagner, executive director of operations for the school district, told the board the purchase price aligns with a recent appraisal of the 2.8-acre school site.
Barker, who was not present at the meeting, did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment. Barker’s real estate agency is in the historic Gross-Kelly and Company Warehouse building in the Santa Fe Railyard, and he was active in the redevelopment of the cityowned Railyard.
The school is just outside of the city’s architecturally controlled historic districts and the nearby Railyard District, where art galleries, apartments, restaurants and a cinema have been among developments in recent years.
Though board member Steve Carrillo said at Tuesday’s meeting that the board had been discussing the sale for some time, the five members did not otherwise comment on the matter before taking a vote.
Though the proceeds would help boost the district’s coffers, the funds are
considered a one-time infusion of cash and cannot be dedicated to recurring costs, such as employee salaries.
The district closed the 30,000-square-foot elementary school in 2010, when it had just 120 students enrolled, as part of a measure to reduce operating expenses. Students from that school, as well as from the Kaune and Larragoite elementary schools, were consolidated into the new Aspen Community Magnet School on the city’s west side, an action that drew criticism from some community advocates, educators and parents.
Alvord remained vacant for a year while the school district negotiated with the city of Santa Fe over a possible lease of the facilities. That plan fell through.
Then, in 2011, Tierra Encantada Charter School, an experiential, bilingual high school, rented Alvord. Last summer, that school moved to a facility off Richards Avenue on the south side of town and the district put Alvord on the market with an asking price of $3 million. The school, opened in the early 1930s, was named after board member Josefita “Fefe” Abeyta Hernandez Alvord. According to a history of Santa Fe public schools, the school cost $12,650 to build.