Officials consider leasing Old Crozet School building

Albemarle County officials have an idea about how to use the abandoned Old Crozet School: lease it to a private school and a nonprofit.
The Field School of Charlottesville, a middle school for boys, hopes to become a tenant, as does Old Crozet School Arts, a nonprofit that would offer classes in dance, visual arts, music, theater and other art forms.

“A lot of Crozet residents talked about how nice it would be for the school to have some sort of an arts component, some sort of an education component, some community uses,” said county spokeswoman Lee Catlin. “And both these entities really do offer some of those possibilities.”
The Albemar-le Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on the proposal at 6 p.m. today at the County Office Building on McIntire Road.
The Old Crozet School served as a combined elementary and high school until the completion of Albemarle High School in 1954, according to the county’s Web site. After the high school students were moved, the school was renamed Crozet Elementary.

The facility remained an elementary school for more than 35 years, until studies determined that a new building was needed. Completed in 1990, the new Crozet Elementary School is across the street from the old school building.
Completely renovating the old school building would cost $6 million to $8 million, according a county report released last year.
The Field School and Old Crozet School Arts would not take up space in the entire building, however, so it would not have to be fully renovated for their uses.
“It’s being leased as-is, and the tenants can make some modifications to the building, but it doesn’t have [to be renovated] for these tenants,” said Rebecca Ragsdale, a senior planner for the county.

County staff is recommending that the planning commission amend a special use permit regulating the Old Crozet School, thereby allowing the Old Crozet School Arts and Field School to become tenants. If both were to become tenants, it would result in a gross revenue increase of $42,710, according to a recent county report.
If approved, the county would lease the building to the schools one year at a time, Catlin said. The Board of Supervisors will get the ultimate say in how the Old Crozet School building is used.
“If the board determines there’s another use they want to move toward, we’re able to be pretty flexible,” Catlin said. “We don’t have a long-term commitment to anything.”