El Paso ISD: 10 vacant buildings not an option for new $21.5 M central office
The El Paso Independent School District is dealing with a coming budget shortfall and is looking to cut costs where it can.
What many people don’t know is the EPISD actually owns 10 vacant properties. So what will the district do with them?
EPISD owns properties around the city, but actually does not own its central office. The city does, and it wants it back. Now the administration must move, but none of its vacant properties are an option.
Lupe Reyes has been living across the street from Lee Elementary in northeast El Paso for 37 years.
“The custodians used to live there,” Reyes said.
She remembers Henry, who lived right across the street from her and worked at the school. Back in the day, when you actually had to physically turn on the lights and turn on the heater, you needed custodians to live on campus. But now with automation, that’s a thing of the past.
“That since has been done away with but some of those homes still remain on our property,” said EPISD spokeswoman Melissa Martinez.
Six homes sit vacant, along with three offices and one land parcel. The district is actively trying to sell the land, which has since been appraised to total $1.5 million. This would barely dent the district’s financial needs. But these properties won’t be used to house EPISD administration, which must move from the city-owned central office off Boeing by the end of its lease date in April 2017.
“We have looked at all our properties,” Martinez said. “The land we own in northeast El Paso is land we already own.”
Martinez is referring to the site of the new central office near Kenworthy and Transmountain Road in the northeast. It will cost the district $21.5 million to build a big enough building to house its 800 employees, a number none of the other 10 properties can fit. Martinez said that $21.5 million won’t be coming out of the cash-strapped district’s general fund.
“It won’t impact the tax rate because, again, it’s already land owned by the district, and we’ll use Quality School Construction bonds to build the building with the minimal effect to the taxpayer,” Martinez said.
Just about a year ago, the district paid $25,000 to redesign the executive offices inside this building. Most of the money was spent on furniture, which will travel to the new location in the northeast. But the rest of the maintenance will be completely demolished since the building must be leveled by spring 2017.
