Superintendent Scott Dill said Houston Schools received four bids for demolition of the Fine Arts Building by the May 31 deadline.
The bids will be opened at the June 14 monthly school board meeting. The companies and bid amounts will be announced at that time.
Dill said previously that the fate of the facility –– debated in recent weeks by those for restoration and those favoring demolition –– could be determined then.
“If the board should elect to accept a bid for demolition, it could be as soon as the June board meeting,” Dill said. “I don’t know that they will, but they will at that point have all the information they have requested from me to make an informed decision.”
The school board approved seeking bids for demolition of the structure in January. After an initial deadline passed without receive bids, the school board re-established the deadline at its May meeting for the 31st.
The Fine Arts Building, which was erected in 1921 as the community’s high school, was deemed unsafe in 2008 and vacated. The space was used for storage for several years before being completely shut down. A recent inspection revealed asbestos and hazardous levels of mold inside the building.
A group of concerned citizens has called for the district to pursue renovating the building. Several have addressed the board at recent meetings. John Impey, who successfully had the facility placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, has hung letters on doors throughout the community in an effort to save the building.
Dill, who said he understands the historical significance of the building and respects those attempting to save it, believes a majority of the public supports demolition.
“The conversations I’ve had with district patrons – primarily parents – the prevailing opinion seems to be that it’s time for this building to go,” he said. “I don’t think our board would be pursuing this, even as an investigation, if they did not believe they had public backing on this issue.”