Hey, Let's All Go To School At A Vacant Circuit City!
The Realtor handing Circuit City's soon to be empty real estate is suggesting that the stores be converted into schools. Awesome.
"Circuit City's real estate has begun to create interest among national and regional retailers and supermarkets. There are great opportunities for schools and other non-retail uses. "
Don't do it, we say. Those stores are cursed. As soon as you move in there, they'll fire all the teachers and replace them with 11th graders who'll work part-time in exchange for minimum wage and cafeteria discount.
Circuit City Elementary School? [Blogging Stocks]
DJM Realty to Dispose of All Remaining Circuit City Real Estate in the United States (Press Release) [PR Newswire]
(Photo:Paxton Holley)
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Comments:
I guess it could work, that'd be a lot of remodeling costs to make it school-like though. Although with all the school closures in the Seattle are, maybe this'd be a lower-cost alternative to a traditional school campus.
You know what's more awesome? Vacant real estate!
Maybe its me, but the area that most Circuit Cits are located is very commercial and probably not the best place for a school. Just imagine the truancy if you have 20 stores located within walking distance.
What the realtor's really saying: oh my sweet mary christ, how the hell am I supposed to sell this crap in this commercial real estate market?
Around here (TX), they're destined to become evangelical churches. You know, while they save money in their Building Fund.
They did that sort of thing here in Houston. They turned one of the old Incredible Universe stores into a Houston Community College branch.
And teachers will sell $100 - $200 books
$80 + monster test guides
High priced candy and pop.
high pressure to get grades up even if the teachers need to help the kids cheat to meet there goals.
REIT's are in big trouble when schools seem like a viable tenant.
I think it is actually a pretty good idea and deserves exploration, it would be a lot cheaper than building new schools, and all the infrastructure is already in place. What can we do with the hundreds of Starbucks, Linens and Things, and other retail space that are soon to be vacant across the fruited plain?
@smythe: That was honestly my first thought, too. While it's a good use of the space, the fact that the spaces are in malls isn't necessarily a good thing.
It's a new charter school program!!!
1. Buy bad retail space
2. Bring in kids to run it
3. ????
4. PROFIT!!!
@Collie:
Exactly. My wife's father is an assistant superintendent for a school system in Florida that repurposes vacant retail buildings into school buildings. They recently turned an empty mall into the headquarters for the school district. It features tons of space, they get the building at a hell of a deal, and there's one less massive vacant mall in the area.
@Canino: We had a superstore do that several years ago on the northeast side of Indy. Don't remember what it was before.
On the other hand, yeah, the CCs around here are really, really not in good places for schools.
Especially if there are laws about what can and can't be sold within X yards of a school.
@Collie: What happens when the school's lease is up and there is a big corporate entity willing to pay an increase? The school pays more or gets dislocated.....
A HORRIBLE IDEA.
@ShirtNinja: conversely, having schools within a mall area would provide kids with walking-access to after school part-time jobs (which are usually in malls) and places they can hang out that are "safer" than conventional teen spots. I don't like it that kids would be thrust into a consumer culture, but it does have some potential up-sides, too.
I'd rather see new roller/ice skating rinks.
A few years back in my city there was talk of converting a failed May Company anchor store in our mall into a school. Pretty soon, with the way things are going, the entire mall will be available and they could do kindergarten through graduate school.
They could turn them all into community gymnasiums. The spaces have tall enough ceilings. Bring in some weight equipment, basketball hoops and free space for anyone to run an exercise class.
We have tons of vacant commercial real estate right now. It is getting a tad bit scary. There were bunches of strip malls and outdoor shopping complexes that were built right before the economy tanked. Combine those with the defunct big box stores and it is starting to look bad.
If they are talkiing about those phoney mail order schools Like phoenix College, then yeah, it would make sense. But the store locations were built into high vehicle traffic areas. I can't think of a single politician that would consider making kids dodge cars to go to school... Well, yeah I can.
Schools are usually put in residential areas, I can just imagine how many kids would need extra money to go to school/the mall each day. What a stupid idea!
@downwithmonstercable: A lot of remodeling costs? I think they'd just need to put up partitions and buy desks, chairs, and dry erase or chalkboards. And maybe expand the bathrooms (school bathrooms always seem to have a whole lotta stalls).
Blow a hole in a wall, put in a garage door... use it as a warehouse for all the unsold American made Autos... 2 Birds, 1 Stone
Turn them into prisons and jails, maybe even a police station or two since they always seem to be away from the malls (in the residential areas, next to the schools)
@Joeb5: That would have been funny if you had actually inflated the cost of books over what they really are.
@Canino: A ex-circuit city near me (that closed a few years ago) was converted into a Korean church. They bought up the surrounding ex-El Torito and donut shop as well.
How about libraries? An old Ames loaction (think WalMart but crappier) in my hometown got converted like this, and the lib doubled it's sq feet instantly. It might not be pretty space, but the price is right and there's lots of it. I don't know about the rest of you, but the library in my current town is waaaaaaaay too small.
if it's a school for pirates, ninjas, pirate ninjas, or ninja pirates, i'm all for this idea.
@everclear75: The one at Potomac Mills became some DOD office. They even use all of the truck bays. Weird to have that right near the mall.
I have often thought one of the more insulting things is big, giant boarded up warehouse stores and schools with kids housed in trailers for lack of space.
Sure why not? The way the US education system is going now half of the kids in school will wind up in low paying retail jobs anyway. They may as well get cozy from the get go.
My more serious concerns though....
Most of the parking lots surrounding these stores are death traps and mugging magnets. Where on earth are kids going to have recess? Build a Gymboree next door and rent time? Or how about a McDonalds with an indoor play space?
The rent on these buildings is killer. While sure, it might be good not to own and not have to fix the roofs on them, in the long run putting the safety of kids in the hands of a commercial management company is a bad idea.
Back in the early 1990s, my alma mater did convert a defunct big box that happened to be next to the campus.
(Keep in mind, though, it was next to the side of the campus that didn't have anything built on it, so the University had to build a long walkway through the woods, with "safety phones" every 50 feet in case somebody tried to rape a co-ed.)
The think the university called it the "Southwest Annex" -- everybody else called it the "Value City Campus." I had one class there my senior year. As I recall, it just looked cheap on the inside -- like a low-budget TV show imitation of what a real university looks like.
Gym class on aisle four!!
And any Students getting A's will be expelled to make room for cheaper lower achieving students.
I don't think we are going to see many schools expanding with this economy. With hiring freezes, elimination of positions, and the like, these spaces are going to sit empty for a very long time.
(However, I would like to buy a service plan for some of my grades...you know, they'll give me an A if I happen to get an F)
@outoftheblew: Well, you COULD do partitions. I'd imagine they'd want to build actual walls, maybe a second floor..and probably refurb the retail-style layout into something more functional.
A few old Food Lion grocery stores have been converted into administrative or 'alternative' (read: disciplinary) schools around these parts. (TX) Seems to work well enough, depending on location.
@smythe: Most of the CC's around here are right next to Barnes and Noble. Could be kind of cool if it were a small community college branch. Get some high-priced coffee and use the wifi while waiting for class. Plus loiter and read books for free.
@bohemian: And to bring it full circle - or maybe only about 270 degrees - the building that used to be my gym is being turned into a Buffalo Wild Wings. No word yet on the fate of the swimming pool and hot tub.
It really depends on what kind of school...if it is a private school, or a specialized school, you may not need to do much renovation. Have maybe 3 classes going at once, and just have food brought in instead of cooked there.
If you wanted to convert it to a "real" public school, they'd want to install lockers, have some sort of cafateria, and some solid walls so sound doesn't bleed from one class to another.
It may be really a good place for a school that involves some sort of auto tech, as they have garages. The sound isolating room could be usefull too.
@smythe: On the other hand, the CC where I used to live stood alone on the side of a highway. That would work better, I think.
Indoor demolition derby and laser tag. Bring your own car.
@AlteredBeast: Ahh, that makes sense.
Maybe another possibility is someone could buy it and put people in there dressed as employees, and play make believe retail. Kind of like a big doll house. I bet there's a niche market for that somewhere.
@ojzitro: Hopefully the lease is long enough that they'll be able to have a decent replacement lined up. Or for those who believe in cyclical economics, long enough for the next downturn to take effect.
@ojzitro: So what? That's the definition of leasing. If you don't want the risk of not being able to renew, then you either write that into the lease or you purchase the property.
In Wake County, NC, the school district converted an old grocery store into a 9th grade center, and has a multi-year lease. By the time the lease is up, new high schools will have been built and those 9th graders will have someplace else to go.
Ironically, at a Board of Education meeting on Tuesday night we decided to persue commercial space that can be converted into a middle school. Unfortunately (or not) we don't have any Circuit City's in our town of 55,000.
@alexawesome: I'd imagine the parenting would have way more influence on consumer culture than the school. At least I hope they'd have more influence.
On a side note, a highschool near where I live is across the street from a very large mall. I know they are constantly having to deal with kids leaving campus to go over there, and skipping class to hang out over there too.
Yeah, but most of those 11th graders would actually be able to fix your computer or tell you useful things about the electronics that used to be there.