Ames Board Approves New Life for Roosevelt Elementary School

Roosevelt Elementary School's days as a vacated school building with some boarded up windows will soon be over.

Luke Jensen of Real Estate Service Group, Inc., told the Ames Community School Board that a new chapter in the 90-year-old building's life is about to begin.

“Tonight one chapter of Roosevelt School ends and another chapter begins,” said Jensen who plans to redevelop the building into condominiums.

The Ames Community School Board unanimously approved the sale of the building to Real Estate Service Group, Inc., Monday. Jensen offered $25,000 --- the highest bid --- for the building in February.

No one spoke during a public hearing on the sale and the board received no comments.

Dean Jensen has said he planned to renovate the structure into condominiums and some of the land would also become a city park.

Jensen spoke after the vote during the public forum saying the sale was a step in the right direction for the school district, the neighborhood and the community.

“Because of your leadership both the green space and the beloved old school will see new life,” Jensen said.

Jensen said Real Estate Service Group planned an urban development for the building that would maintain its facade and unique interior details.

The district closed the building in 2005 and it has remained unused. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A six-school bond referendum in 2011 would have reopened the school, but that plan failed. The current board put the school on a list of properties the district didn't need and took bids for its sale after a second bond referendum for five elementary schools was approved by voters in April 2012.

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