Idea: Use building to leverage grants
Chilkat Valley Preschool leaders have told Haines Borough officials they may be interested in the government gifting them the Human Resources Building.
Alissa Henry, chair of the preschool’s board of directors, said taking over the First Avenue building isn’t the group’s first preference and it’s still investigating whether it can afford to own and operate it.
But other options – including building a new structure or finding a space at the Haines School or in another building – haven’t materialized. “This is option number three or four, but it’s what we’ve come down to now,” Henry said in a recent interview.
The borough, which is preparing to sell or transfer the 110-year-old former U.S. Government School, wants the premises vacated by July 2016.
The preschool has raised $100,000 toward a new home. Henry said donation of the building and property amounting to $180,000 would allow the preschool to use it as an in-kind donation and receive up to $300,000 in foundation grants for renovation.
The building needs a new roof, plumbing, windows, siding, light fixtures, heaters and insulation. “We have to make it more efficient, so we can afford to heat it,” Henry said. A survey three weeks ago found no asbestos in flooring or siding, she said.
“The big factor we have to weigh is can we afford to own the property and pay for maintenance and insurance and property taxes. It’s a big building and it’s old. Hopefully if we raised $300,000 and got it fixed up, no big issues would come up, but it’s not like owning a new building.”
The borough maintains the Human Resources Building and the preschool covers the utility bill.
Henry said the board initially thought it could build a new school for $400,000, but cost estimates kept going up. “We can’t leverage $100,000 to get $400,000 in the time that we have,” she said.
She said the board is “still keeping its doors open” in terms of finding an existing building to relocate into. Board members have said they prefer a more central, downtown location closer to facilities like the public library.
“It would be great to still be supported by the borough in a borough facility,” she said.
Henry said if the borough puts the Human Resources Building up for sale, the group may make a proposal to take over ownership. Getting it at no cost “would be the only way it would make much sense,” she said.
“We still want to explore it and make sure we want it before we make that proposal. We’re still not 100 percent sure that’s the direction we want to go,” Henry said.
Assemblyman George Campbell this week said he’d be amenable to such a proposal. “I’d definitely be willing to look at it. I don’t see that I’d have a problem with it” as long as the transfer did not include the borough making improvements to it, he said.