Detroit schools to revive Cooley site as sports complex

**stasu1213** · May-08-25, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

Because schools systems are designed to educate youth. Not to be in the business of ‘repurposing’ real estate. They don’t hire people that are real estate developers, research markets for underused buildings, none of that. Believe it or not the State of Michigan has rules on what they can spend their tax based budgets on and it is supposed to fall in line with teaching kids. Not real estate ventures. Paying a salary to a ‘toilet flusher’ in an empty building would have severe affects on future budgets because it would demonstrate they left their core mission and were wasteful and probably corrupt with the budget.

Hello. Then if a developer want to purchase the building especially after it had just closed let the developer buy the building. A few developers over the years reportedly were eyeing Cooley, MacKenzie, and other buildings shortly after they had closed. I know it's not the school systems job to repurpose former school buildings. The school system should get out of the way, not just allow these buildings to sit and rot, and allow those who want to purchase these buildings to do their jobs and repurpose them

**Meddle** · May-08-25, 02:39 PM

I mean .... why not just reopen it as school?

Focus on specialties like Cass Tech did.

Maybe architecture/design and athletics.

I was supposed to go there, but the decay of the city at that time made me say No.

**Meddle** · May-08-25, 02:41 PM

If Preach, Pooter and Cochise could go there ....

Yeah, I know wrong city.

Even set in another city, I always thought the movie was named after this one.

'I'll be there .... '

**CassTechGrad** · May-08-25, 07:03 PM

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**Meddle** · May-08-25, 07:24 PM

I suppose it was that way at one time, but not in the late 60s.

**royce** · May-09-25, 09:25 AM

First, the City of Detroit does not own these properties, unless Detroit Public Schools Community District [[DPSCD) has been delinquent on property taxes and the city has taken over the properties through foreclosure.

Second, DPSCD on several occasions has put up for sale signs for several of it's former schools not too long after the schools closed.

Third, there was a group that was trying to renovate Cooley. Obviously, they didn't have the funds to complete renovations and either they or another party sold the school back to DPSCD.

Fourth, if the school district loses student population to charter schools or other school districts, it makes no financial sense to keep a school open with falling enrollment. In 1992 DPSCD had 190,000 students. As of September 2024, the school district has 47,540. Makes no sense in opening a shuttered school if the student population isn't there.

**stasu1213** · May-09-25, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by royce

First, the City of Detroit does not own these properties, unless Detroit Public Schools Community District [[DPSCD) has been delinquent on property taxes and the city has taken over the properties through foreclosure.

Second, DPSCD on several occasions has put up for sale signs for several of it's former schools not too long after the schools closed.

Third, there was a group that was trying to renovate Cooley. Obviously, they didn't have the funds to complete renovations and either they or another party sold the school back to DPSCD.

Fourth, if the school district loses student population to charter schools or other school districts, it makes no financial sense to keep a school open with falling enrollment. In 1992 DPSCD had 190,000 students. As of September 2024, the school district has 47,540. Makes no sense in opening a shuttered school if the student population isn't there.

I agree with you. Repurposing these buildings means to renovate them into something else other than schools.That might be a daunting task for all shuttered school buildings throughout the city. Speaking of schools closing due to the decline in population; There were some schools there on the Eastside that had closed in the very early 200s due to poor GPA throughout the schools. The neighborhoods were still population with children whom found themselves having to walk to schools in other districts due to such a lame excuse to close a fully attended neighborhood school

**Gistok** · May-09-25, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

There were some schools there on the Eastside that had closed in the very early 200s due to poor GPA throughout the schools. The neighborhoods were still population with children whom found themselves having to walk to schools in other districts due to such a lame excuse to close a fully attended neighborhood school

Are you referring Finney High School? My Alma Mater in the early 70s. It closed down in 2009. They merged it with another high school [[Crocket)... and then Crocket merged into the new school on the Finney site in 2012... when a new $75 million dollar East English Village Academy opened up.

I'm not sure what a new school building did to improve the education of the students... but I imagine not much!

I just found their rankings...

https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...academy-200430

**ABetterDetroit** · May-09-25, 06:40 PM

stasu1213 how about just not repeating the obvious failures of the past?

Giving away properties for pocket change to individuals or entities that have insufficient financial resources to do anything with them is a well proven long term disaster in this city. There is no chance in hell that you could find a place in America where that plan has been executed more often than Detroit.

Next, the transfer shell game of slum lords and long term speculators under shady LLCs begins indefinitely with virtually zero legal recourse to stop it under current laws in The State of Michigan. That simple Fact is all over the city in Detroit.

**stasu1213** · May-11-25, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Are you referring Finney High School? My Alma Mater in the early 70s. It closed down in 2009. They merged it with another high school [[Crocket)... and then Crocket merged into the new school on the Finney site in 2012... when a new $75 million dollar East English Village Academy opened up.

I'm not sure what a new school building did to improve the education of the students... but I imagine not much!

I just found their rankings...

https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...academy-200430

Poor ranking. Finney didn't need to be razed and rebuild into another failed academy. Denby is a much older building than Finney was and Osborn was built around the same time Finney was probably a few years before. These academies had mostly done a disservice to children in Detroit whom attended them

**stasu1213** · May-11-25, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

stasu1213 how about just not repeating the obvious failures of the past?

Giving away properties for pocket change to individuals or entities that have insufficient financial resources to do anything with them is a well proven long term disaster in this city. There is no chance in hell that you could find a place in America where that plan has been executed more often than Detroit.

Next, the transfer shell game of slum lords and long term speculators under shady LLCs begins indefinitely with virtually zero legal recourse to stop it under current laws in The State of Michigan. That simple Fact is all over the city in Detroit.

I wonder if these slumlords had given kickbacks to those allowing them to keep purchasing these buildings