NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — It’s a moment that was “a long time coming.”
After years of discussion and community feedback, Norfolk’s school board voted unanimously on Wednesday night to move forward with a proposal that calls for building a new Maury High School while preserving the existing historic building in Ghent.
Under the proposal from local developer Heartland Construction, the existing school will be repurposed as housing, and a new four-story high school will be built on the other side of Maury’s football field.
The unsolicited proposal from Heartland Construction and local architectural firms was given to the school board back in November of last year as an alternative to four other proposals from HBA Architecture that called for either renovating the existing Maury building or demolishing it and building a new one.
Those proposals were set to cost between about $140 million and $160 million when they were first fielded in 2022. WAVY’s working to confirm the projected price of the new proposal from Heartland.
“I wish we could keep the school a school. I wish we could renovate certain portions and still add on a newly-renovated piece, but we have to compromise,” said board member Dr. Noëlle M. Gabriel, who talked about just how much the future of Maury has been brought up in her 11 years on the board. “That’s the situation we’re in, we’re don’t have unlimited funds and we’re trying to preserve old but still provide new to our students.”
Board members Rodney Jordan and Carlos Clanton, a Maury alum, added it’s like a “twofer,” in being able to keep the old school and its historic charm, and give students and teachers the new building they desired.
“I think it gives us a twofer in terms of being respectful with the historical architecture and saving the building while at the same time, hopefully going forward have valedictorian and other speeches that include remarks about how great the school is and the learning environment and all that’s available,” Jordan said.
The push to preserve the historic 1910 building and save areas such as the auditorium for public was seen as a compromise by the board with some who wanted to keep the building as a school.
Alice Allen-Grimes of the Norfolk Preservation Alliance, Maury’s former PTA liaison to the school board, said at a recent board meeting on Nov. 29 “the best option for everyone is to renovate the historic portions of Maury as a modern school” and then make any needed additions like a new cafeteria and classrooms.
“The auditorium is quite simply irreplaceable, especially to the students and parents who are drawn to culture and performance, more than computers and sports. It is a hollow claim that renovating the historic school will not give future students what they need.”
She added the Virginia Department of Historic Resources recommended that the building be eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s been listed among the Most Endangered Historic Places by Preservation Virginia.
However others like current Maury High student Emmett Morehouse said at that Nov. 29 meeting that it’s time to build a new school, a move NPS says got the highest ranking in their survey responses. Students and staff cited dilapidated conditions and a lack of space for Maury’s 1,500-student body.
“The vast majority of other students and most of the teachers I’ve talked with also agree with me,” Morehouse said.
He talked about issues over his four years, including leaks during rainstorms that ruined essays and the flooding of a hallway due to a pipe burst.
“I think these are certainly disruptive to learning, and I also think the primary responsibility or NPS and the school is to teach the children inside of it … everything should be done to prioritize that.”
The proposal from Heartland would see the old Maury building sold and turned into roughly 125-170 housing units with “potential purchase price range of $2.5M to $3.4M,” the proposal states.
Since that original proposal was sent in in November 2022, Heartland Construction’s amended proposal scratches an originally proposed parking garage for the site, a concern flagged by a working group that was established to make recommendations to the school board about Maury’s future.
The amended proposal instead includes 308 parking spaces and room for 20 buses to queue, which they say is in line with option B2 from HBA. The new school’s size will also be reduced from 331,460 square feet to 315,000 square feet, reducing the overall cost of the project.
The district’s work group had recommended that the school board reject the Heartland proposal and instead advertise for two separate requests for proposal, one to design a new high and another for a major renovation of the existing high school. Norfolk Superintendent Dr. Sharon Birdsong supported the work group’s recommendation, a presentation on the matter on the board’s documents page read.
Wednesday’s vote started interim contract negotiations with the developer, with future contract votes expected in the new year. If everything’s approved, the new Maury High could open in August 2029, the school district says.
