New plans for Blackbear Bosin Academy will be ‘a good thing for that neighborhood’

At about this time last year, the Wichita school board approved the $500,000 sale of the former Blackbear Bosin Academy, not far from 13th and Woodlawn, to Garvey Ventures, but that deal fell through when the board refused another extension for the group as it worked on permitting for its plans.

Now, the board has approved the $350,000 sale of the 1956 building to Tom George, who plans apartments just as he created with the former Sunnyside Elementary and Kellogg Elementary schools.

“They’re not the cookie-cutter ones where there’s hundreds of people,” George said of his apartments.

“It’s really a good thing for that neighborhood, and it’s a good thing for whoever gets to live there, too.”

George said the more than 20,000-square-foot building likely will fit about 20 apartment units, meaning they should be a pretty good size for each tenant.

He also converted the former Bown-Corby School in Marion.

“Those buildings are historic, so we maintain and we update the buildings to keep the original structures.”

Except for adding a dog run, he is keeping the 6-acre grounds the same “so it doesn’t affect the neighborhood.”

There’s a playground that he’s also keeping.

Unlike the Sunnyside and Kellogg schools, Blackbear Bosin — which was built as Price Elementary School — is on one level.

“So we’re going to gear it more to older clientele,” George said. “There’s a huge shortage of senior living.”

It won’t be a strictly 55-plus community. George said since it’s one level, it may be good for people with disabilities, too.

His goal is to have solar panels on the former school’s long, flat roof, so residents won’t have to pay for heating and cooling.

“It’d be almost self sufficient if I can pull it off.”

George said it costs more to preserve and renovate an older building like this than to build new, but state and federal programs with historic tax credits make it possible.

He calls those “crucial for these old buildings. It’s the only way it works.”

Garvey Ventures had planned to raze the school and build single family residential on the property “and kind of reflect the neighborhood,” said Robert Taylor, who represented the firm.

He expressed frustration over not getting another extension, which he said was necessary as the company worked through permitting.

“We just don’t control that schedule.”

Taylor said the plans addressed some issues at the site, such as drainage and preserving trees and making it a parklike setting.

“It was an elegant solution to an odd-shaped parcel in the middle of a neighborhood,” he said.

“We spent a lot of money on it and a lot of time. It’s most unfortunate.”

Like Garvey Ventures, George also still has to get approvals from the city for his plans.

The difference, he said, is he plans to buy the property either way.

Since he’s still somewhat early in the process, George said he hasn’t determined a rent price yet, though he said his buildings usually rent for below market value.

George said his design means there will be even less traffic for the neighborhood than when there was a school.

“It’s a neat concept.”