Demolition of former Albany High School building resumes, clearing way for medical training center
File Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
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ALBANY — The legal dispute over demolition of a historic school building is over with a couple of recent developments — one being the withdrawal of an appeal seeking to overturn an earlier order and the fact that most of the building is now a pile of rubble.
On Thursday morning workers at the Jefferson Street and Third Avenue demolition area continued the job of removing the facade of the former Albany High and Albany Middle School building that was completed in the mid-1920s.
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital requested permission to demolish that building as well as three historical houses and a 1960s-era medical building to make way for a “Living and Learning Center.” The collaborative project with Albany Technical College will train nurses, who will have the option of living in the facility and doing clinical work at the hospital across the street.
The hospital was cleared to resume demolition with a Sept. 16 court ruling denying a request from the Albany-Dougherty Historic Preservation Commission to halt the work.
The hospital appealed the commission’s ruling to the Albany City Commission, which overturned a 4-3 HPC decision and granted five certificates of appropriateness. The HPC then appealed that decision to Dougherty County Superior Court, where Judge Veronica Darrisaw last week denied the extension of an order stopping work at the site, a decision the group appealed.
During a special called meeting on Thursday morning the HPC voted unanimously to withdraw the appeal, ending the legal battle.
Prior to that, Phoebe had moved forward with demolition at the school in the morning. At least one of the houses has been demolished.
“We gave our reasons why and we wanted it stated in the record,” HPC member Angie Emerson said. “Everybody voted for the appeal to be withdrawn.”
Emerson, who was one of the three commission members to vote to approve Phoebe’s initial request, said she was glad to hear that contractors at the site are preserving the original facade from the school as well as bricks.
Those elements will be used to replicate the original appearance of the front of the building facing Jefferson Street and the main hospital campus.
“That’s one of the things we wanted, for them to reuse and save as many things as they could,” Emerson said.
During an August meeting the City Commission replaced its four appointees to the HPC, two of whom had requested not to be reappointed. The city and Dougherty County Commission each have four appointments.
“I’m excited to have a conversation about how we can prevent this from happening again,” City Commissioner Chad Warbington said. “We can agree to have a productive way of handling things like this in the future.”
The legal battle, which pitted city commissioners against a subsidiary commission, was both time-consuming and costly, as the city brought in outside legal counsel to assist in its defense, he said.
“The city’s members have said they are willing to have conversations with us, the county and Phoebe,” Warbington said.
In a statement released Thursday, Phoebe President and CEO Scott Steiner addressed the decision.
“We were pleased to learn the Historic Preservation Commission has decided to withdraw its appeal of the superior court decision permitting the Living and Learning project to go forward,” the statement said. “We look forward to working closely and collaboratively with the HPC and city leaders on this and other projects as we look to bring wise and appropriate progress and redevelopment to the area around our main hospital for the benefit of our entire community.”
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