Updated: University of Northern Iowa Asks Regents' Permission to Demolish Parts of Old Price Lab Building

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the Board of Regents meeting was Dec. 1. It is Dec. 5. Patch regrets the error.

The building that housed a school closed in a swarm of controversy early this year could soon be demolished.

University of Northern Iowa officials are asking the Iowa Board of Regents for permission to demolish the old Malcolm Price Laboratory school building except the field house and the west wing. That's about 70 percent of the building.

UNI cites $17 million in deferred maintenance in the 1950s-built building and that the space is no longer needed as reason for demolition, which is estimated to cost $500,000.

Regents will consider the matter when they meet on Dec. 5 in Ames.

The field house and west wing are being renovated to house the Child Development Center.

School officials told Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, if approved the building would likely be demolished beginning in May and the area would likely be left as green space for the time being.

Price Lab closed its doors at the end of June. The school served as a teaching lab for college students and a K-12 school for about 350 kids who have been dispersed to local school districts.

UNI officials cited budgetary reasons for its closure, but it caused an uproar on campus and a rift in the community. Parents and teachers filed a lawsuit to block the closing the school. The building was closed anyhow, but the case remains pending in the Iowa Supreme Court.

Plans to demolish the building did not escape the notice of critics of the school.

"We knew this was coming," the manager of the Keep Price Lab Open Facebook page. "The lawsuit continues. Their ineptness continues. Their madness continues. The damage the current UNI administration and the Board of Regents have done to the University and the Cedar Valley is beyond estimate. The good news? They woke up a sleeping giant who will never let them get away with this (expletive) again."