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Vacant Taylor School may become a home

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| Monday, January 10, 2005 12:04 AM CST | () comments

Tom Saul

Esta Bogle, of Orlando, Fla., says she wants to turn the run-down former Taylor School building at West 15th and Warren streets in Davenport into a large house for her far-flung family.

If things go as she plans, said Bogle, who bought the building and land in 2003 for $50,000, work could start in April or May on the boarded-up building that has been vacant for about two decades.

The last thing she plans to do, Bogle said, is let the property slip through her hands. "I'm not interested in selling it. I'm not going to turn the property away. It's a beautiful old building. I want it for a house for my family that is now spread out all over the county," she said.

But neighbors and some city officials say they have little faith that Bogle will do anything with the old school that they claim is not only an eyesore, but also attracts pests, vagrants, vandals and graffiti.

Alderman Ray Ambrose, 4th Ward, said the building offers a perfect example of where the city could use new laws that allow local governments to more swiftly take over abandoned properties and either make them available for reuse or allow them to be demolished.

"I personally would have no problem with the city condemning it," Ambrose said. "The city should demand that this lady either do something with it or lose her opportunity. She lives down in Florida, so I don't have a whole lot of faith that she is going to get anything done."

Chris Ales of Signature Holding Co. has been approached to see if he is interested in turning the building into housing for the elderly, Mayor Charlie Brooke said. Ales, who did not return a phone call from the QUAD-CITY TIMES seeking comment, has redeveloped other old buildings in the city, including the former St. Katharine's School and former Marycrest International University.

Brooke said he also has little faith that Bogle will follow through on plans for renovation, but he wants the neighborhood surrounding it to buy into any solution before he asks that the weight of the city be put behind it.

Jennifer Olsen, co-chairman of the Taylor Heights Neighborhood Coalition, said "the dream of the neighborhood is to see it reused." Many would support condemnation by the city in order to get it into the hands of someone who would renovate it.

In the condition it is in now, it drags down the neighborhood and invites crime and other nuisances, Olsen said. He has met with Bogle and neighbors have periodically cleaned up the property, but they have so far seen no progress by her on plans to renovate it.

"If it's not renovated, the neighborhood will teeter on the side that we don't want it to go in," Olsen said. "We want more people to move into the neighborhood, but who's going to buy a home with that monstrosity sitting there?"

The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. That means that any plans to tear it down would have to go through the city's Historic Preservation Commission, said Ken Oestreich, city manager of land use regulations.

"The commission can chose to allow it to be torn down, or it can recommend that it be landmarked under the city preservation ordinance," Oestreich said. "If it is recommended for landmarking, it has to go before the City Council, which can either accept the recommendation or approve demolition."

Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.