MORGANTOWN — A housing development is planned for the property that has been the home of the old Sabraton School building for the past 100-plus years.
R.J. Williams, who’s Reclaim Co. is in the process of demolishing the former school building, said he intends to build a “small, high-end housing development” on the roughly six-acre property located at the corner of Listravia Avenue and Doyle Street.
Williams said he doesn’t know how many homes the development will include. He explained that he plans to work within the property’s existing R-1A (single family residential) zoning.
He said the site should be cleared within the next couple weeks.
“We have some other things we need to do once we get the school finished. It’s all part of the process,” Williams said, explaining that he hopes to start building homes this year.
Architect Adam Rohaly, with Omni Associates, said the intent is to deliver a “high end, neo-traditional neighborhood concept with a unique look.”
“The area will be a ‘front porch community’ with gated entrance and sidewalks,” Rohaly explained in an email to The Dominion Post.
While he admits the old building shouldn’t be left to vandals, addicts or the ravages of time, Tom Harman said he hates to see it go.
Harman is living with his 80-year old father in the Dug Hill home he grew up in. The house shares a back yard with the school.
“I’m torn about the whole thing. I used to walk across the little footbridge that was out back to get to school every day,” Harman said. “I went to school there for nine years (1969-1978). I went to elementary and junior high school there. You could see the school right out our kitchen window.”
Harman said wanted the building to be kept as an asset to the community, but it had been left to deteriorate too long.
The vacant structure was most recently occupied by the Berean Southern Baptist Church as well as some community groups.
Dave Breakey has lived on Listravia Avenue since 1992. He was out snapping photos of the demolition on Monday.
“I’ve been taking lots of pictures as it’s come down. We live so close,” Breakey said. “When we moved here it was still an elementary school. The gymnasium was always very active. When the church bought it they only used the front part, and then they stopped using it altogether five years ago or so.”
In late 2017, a fire did more than $160,000 in damage to the first floor. It was determined that the fire was intentionally set near the building’s entrance.
Harman said he supports new homes and new families coming into the neighborhood, but worries about the traffic impact on Dug Hill Road and the potential for flooding due to additional runoff.
In the meantime, he’s collected a couple bricks to memorialize his days growing up in Sabraton.
“It was a wonderful place to grow up and I have nothing but wonderful memories of going to school there,” Harman said. “I’m not going to lie, I’m struggling with it a little bit.”
The main portion of the building was constructed in 1909 as the Morgan District High School.
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