![]() ![]() Hall paid $100,000 for the school saying he would tear it down to develop commercial space. The school at 721 W Britton closed in 2004. One of those schools, last home to Gateway Academy, has been empty for several years and is an eyesore with rotting wooden roof overhangs, visible fire damage, boarded up windows and overgrown weeds. “And the vast majority of the schools he purchased are in Ward 7.” ![]() “Ward Hall did not have the capacity to develop Dunbar and the rest of the schools he purchased,” Pettis said. John Pettis, who represents the area as its Ward 7 city councilman, however, has plenty to say. “I don't have anything else to say about it.” “We sold the property,” Veals said when asked about Dunbar. ![]() If she has any regret over the decision, she's not saying. The neighborhood is represented by Oklahoma City School Board member Ruth Veals, who was among those who approved the sale to Hall. Hall bought Dunbar and three other properties last year from Oklahoma City Public Schools. The Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority recently revoked loans given to Hall for the project after concluding his only goal is to sell the property for a profit.Įvidence of vandalism can be seen inside the windows of the school, built in 1932, and it has been hit with three fires believed to be arson since January. Those retirement dreams may be misplaced. In some of the meetings we've held in the neighborhood, we met people who had been elementary students at Dunbar and are now looking forward to the opportunity to spend their retirement (there).” “Structurally, the building is in very good condition, and it is our intent to preserve its historic character. “The building is a wonderful example of the typical two-story brick school building of its era,” Hall said in an April 2015 interview with The Oklahoman. The buyer, Ward Hall, did not return repeated calls from The Oklahoman, but in 2015 he promised he would redevelop Dunbar into senior housing. The school was sold last year to a family with a history of code violations and zoning disputes with municipalities throughout the metro area. The influx of new homes, however, could not save the school from being closed in 2010. Some of the homes are selling for $250,000. That property was across from Dunbar, and within a few years, the school was surrounded by homes built and owned by families returning to an area their elders fled years earlier. Kennedy neighborhood began in 2004 with one family with ties to the once-proud black neighborhood buying an empty lot from the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority at NE 7 and Bath and building a large new home. Just a decade ago, Dunbar Elementary was on the list for a MAPS for Kids makeover that would have added to the revival of the long-neglected John F. ![]()
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