Is Centennial's Admin Building Wasted Space?

In conjunction with appraisals being conducted for several Centennial School District properties, the school board this week authorized a $3,500 feasibility study of its administration building.

The goal, according to board member Kati Driban, is to determine the best use for the district's 78,830-square-foot building, a former elementary school situated on 16 acres on Centennial Road in Warminster Township.

Because of its previous life as a school, Driban said administrators have much more space than they need. 

"You have spaces that were designed to be a classroom and you have a single person in there," Driban said of administrative offices. "You have essentially most of a classroom taken up with a single administrator."

What do you think Centennial School District should do with its extra space? Tell us in the comments.

Extra space, coupled with the building's age were the driving forces in the board's vote this week to hire Gilbert Architects to perform the feasibility study at a cost of $3,500. The firm would be paid 6.5 percent of the project for any future improvements. 

"More than likely what we will do is keep some of the building, demolish another part of the building and remodel the part that we keep," Driban said, adding that the board hopes to receive a "minimum" of 15 options. "This goes everywhere from selling the entire property to what can we do with the building."

While the incoming options may be plentiful, Driban said the amount earmarked for the fixes–$1.5 million–could limit what could ultimately be done.

"Clearly that does not go very far in the world of construction," Driban said.

The school board, "could go out for another bond issue," Driban said, adding that members are "not looking at that at this point."

Chris Berdnik, the district's business manager, said the multi-year capital reserve fund plan calls for this "investment" in the 2015-2016 school year. Berdnik noted that "it is entirely possible and even probable that scope would be phased over more than one year."

But, before any work could begin, the board would need to receive results of the feasibility study, which Driban said she expects within four to six weeks.

The feasibility study evolved from an ad hoc district land and property use committee that Board President Andrew Pollock established last fall, Driban said. The committee, which consists of board members from each region, administrators, and five to seven community members, has been reviewing ways to reduce the district's ownership of excess property.

A portion of the administration building, for instance, is rented out for a headstart program, as well as a cyber school, Driban said, because "we really don't need that much space."

The building's multi-purpose room, gym and cafeteria are all used for storage, Driban said.

"There are shelves upon shelves upon shelves of nothing but storage," Driban said. "If we didn’t have the space we could certainly make do."