How YOU can help save the historic Southern Pines Elementary School complex

PreservationMoore CountySouthern PinesActivism
Written By Leslie Brians

We need your help to maintain the historic integrity of the Southern Pines Elementary School complex which is scheduled to go to public auction in December.

There are three simple steps you can take to keep these buildings from falling into the hands of a developer with no preservation interest.  

Moore County’s Proposed Auction

The historic Southern Pines Elementary School is scheduled to be auctioned to the highest bidder at a public auction on December 31, 2020 at the request of the Moore County Board of Commissioners and the Moore County Board of Education. Despite a local charter school’s numerous requests to purchase the building at the appraised value, the County has deemed it necessary to auction the property in an upset-bid process to receive the highest amount possible to help finance the construction and maintenance of the new county schools. Situated in a prime downtown location, the county expects to receive well over appraised value for this property at auction. However, this leaves a large question mark about the future of the historic school and the fabric of downtown Southern Pines.

An Alternative to Auction

Ideally, the building would go to the local charter school and continue to serve the children of Moore County, however there’s a large divide between the appraisal price that entity would be able to pay and the price desired by the county. 

After discussing this issue with the non-profit Preservation NC, we are putting out a call to our members and followers to contact Moore County Officials and Commissioners with the following information. It offers a viable alternative that will secure needed funding for the County and ensure that a preservation-minded developer will purchase the historic Southern Pines Elementary School complex. 

How you can help

Simply follow these three steps:

Step One

Copy and paste the text below, filling in the relevant information, and send it to your commissioner (whose contact information is listed in step three below)

Dear ______,

My name is ________ and I am a resident of __________.

I am writing to you about the historic Southern Pines Elementary School property. The future of this property will directly affect the fabric of Southern Pines and the historic neighborhood it has served since 1907.

The historic Southern Pines School, now known as Southern Pines Elementary, was designed by renowned architect Aymar Embury II in the Georgian Revival style and encompasses an entire block of elegant buildings. It garnered much attention when it was built in the 1920s for its distinctive design and appeared in a 1924 issue of Architectural Record.

While I understand the county’s need to fund existing projects and its desire to sell rather than lease to avoid becoming landlords, the county must handle the future of this building sensitively. Simply allowing any developer with deep pockets and no preservation interest to determine the future of the site, and the future of Southern Pines as a whole, would be careless. There would be an immense backlash from the community if this building complex were destroyed or significantly altered. To avoid what may become a very public headache both for the county and the town of Southern Pines, I would like to make a suggestion that could benefit the county financially while still allowing for the preservation of the historic building complex and the neighborhood.

The non-profit Preservation NC can assist Moore County in disposing of this important historic school complex using NCGS 160A 266 which allows the County to work with Preservation NC to ensure that it is sold to a preservation-minded developer who can meet several local objectives (e.g. residential housing, mixed-use, institutional/office, etc.) utilizing historic tax credits and other economic development tools available for preservation projects. It would be sold at a price acceptable to the County. Several counties and municipalities across the state have utilized this negotiated sale which has resulted in positive economic development projects without the uncertainty of an onerous auction process. I have attached an overview brochure for your review.

I implore you to contact Cathleen Turner at Preservation NC (cturner@presnc.org) as soon as possible to discuss the future of this building and answer any questions you or others may have about how Preservation NC can assist Moore County in the successful disposition of the Southern Pines School and the other historic government-owned properties in Moore County.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Step Two

Download the Overview brochure and attach it to your email.

Step Three

Email to the following Town of Southern Pines Officials, County Commissioners, the County Clerk, and county officials (click the email address to start your email)

Leslie Brians
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