Franklin Street School’s Future Will Be as Community Center

CAPE MAY – The Historic Franklin Street School will be transformed into a “multi-purpose, multi-generational facility” broadly serving the needs of Cape May residents. 
That was the concept delivered to Cape May City Council at its July 5 work session by David MacKenzie, director of the Center for Community Arts (CCA).
In 2002, CCA entered into an agreement with the city sharing responsibility for the historic school and the annex to the structure that contains an operational gymnasium.
The original concept had been to convert part of the structure to a community arts center.
Fundraising efforts through grants and local donations resulted in $1.4 million garnered for its renovation and conversion.
MacKenzie said that between $700,000 and $800,000 had been spent on the kinds of renovation no one can see.
“We have done a great deal on environmental remediation and structural rehabilitation,” he said. “You can’t see the work on structural steel, but the building is now secure,” he added.
MacKenzie was the first to admit that “everything inside still needs to be done.”
He was referencing work needed that ranges from walls and floors to a whole new mechanical system. Mackenzie said $600,000 in the form of a state grant for the rehabilitation remained untouched.
The new concept incorporates the planned community arts center but goes well beyond it.
As Council member Roger Furlin said in introductory remarks, “This concept involves the whole building, not just part of it.”
The plan, as presented to council, is to renovate the entire structure including the back annex, and newly-constructed space above the current gym and use the integrated structure for multipurpose activities. The complex would also include a senior community center.
When renovated, the estimate is that the structure would have about 9,000 square feet of usable space. Examples of use included the flexible senior meeting and activity space, a location for CCA office space and radio station, art space with access to things like a kiln for pottery, a dedicated area for historical exhibits and even preservation of an area well suited for community health programs.
How much would all that cost? That was the next question to be answered.
Mackenzie and Furlin said that they wanted to get the concept before the council and then move to cost out the plan. The $600,000 still available is a start, but Mackenzie cautioned that much more would be needed.
The continued use of a historic structure to support some community-based initiatives is an attractive one. The hope is that significant grant dollars could be won for the project. 
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.