What's next for Hillsboro High
And Does It Include Selling Off Part of the Campus?
When the Metro Nashville Public Schools released a proposal to sell off part of Hillsboro High School’s land and build a new six-story school on a portion of the property, it got people’s attention.
“We could hardly find anybody who was in favor of selling the land,” said Carey Morgan, President of the Hillsboro High Parent Teach Student Organization
MNPS quickly clarified that nothing had been decided and that the proposal was simply a step to see what was possible. Since then, there has been increased community involvement, alternate plans created, and a few scattered news reports. But how did MNPS arrive at the idea to sell a portion of the site, where is the project today, and what’s next?
The Next Chapter of HHS
From Historic Nashville, Inc.:
The current Hillsboro High School has served the community since 1954 after the original 1939 school was destroyed by a fire in 1952. Constructed of white brick trimmed in green, the unique school complex is an excellent example of Mid-Century Modern civic architecture in Nashville. The school was designed by Nashville architect Edwin Keeble, who is best known for designing the downtown L&C Tower. The Hillsboro campus was expanded in the 1950s and 1960s and the school underwent a renovation in 1995.
According to School Board Member Mary Pierce, the current saga to upgrade HHS started with parents’ interest in seeing upgrades to the school and the district’s need to continually maintain and update current facilities.
About a decade ago, MNPS had a third party audit done to score the need for physical upgrades at each school. Since Hillsboro High School appeared relatively low on the list, local parents started to explore raising private money to fund, at least in part, a renovation on the school, which they believe badly needed it due to age, delayed improvements, and patchwork changes.
“We knew something needed to be done, but we didn’t know how we were going to get the funding,” Morgan said.
They ended up only raising enough money for a feasibility study and initial drawings, but no formal budget or plan was established. In the meantime, both Hillsboro and Hillwood High schools became a higher priority for upgrades as part of the ongoing cycle of facility planning.
Given the price tags of renovating those two high schools – said to be about $30 million each at the time – the idea to sell off property both in Green Hills and Hillwood was raised to offset the cost. This would also help the projects avoid delay, as the net cost would be lowered.
While no decision was made at that time, the school board did move forward to explore the idea and contracted with Perkins + Will Global to create plans for how the schools would be developed. In the case of Hillsboro, the result was a six-story building on the north end of the property and selling off the Hillsboro Pike frontage to developers. For Hillwood, the proposal was to relocate the school entirely to Bellevue, leaving the land for residential development.
“The feedback I received was vehemently opposed to selling the land,” Pierce said. “We started to hear the community roar, and there started to be questions about what you could actually get by selling the land.”
While Nashville real estate continues to increase in value, the concerns about Southern Land’s project at Hillsboro Pike and Richard Jones questioned how the site could ultimately be used, and therefore how much a developer would pay. Additionally, some argued a 6-story structure was not the appropriate layout for the high school, and it would likely require relocation of at least some athletic fields.
“We have students from all over the district,” Morgan said. “That would really be a hardship for those students, and it affects the sense of community.”
Regrouping with Community Involvement
The project then went back to the drawing board, in part due to community reaction, but officials have also emphasized the proposal to sell the land was only an alternative being explored.
“A lot of people thought it was a done deal, but it was never that way,” said Morgan.
This time, MNPS Construction and Perkins + Will started down two paths – razing the current structure and starting from scratch, or retaining parts of the current building (including the mid-century modern architecture of Edwin Keeble) as part of a renovation.
To involve the community more fully in the project, Design Charrettes were held for the public at large, parents and students to help imagine a new Hillsboro High School. Participants could choose to work on either of the two options – renovation or new construction – using scale blocks to layout their ideas. You can see their ideas here.
Those ideas have gone back to the design firm and MNPS, and on Thursday, January 7 Metro Nashville Public Schools and the design team will host a community meeting to present the options for renovation or rebuild. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at Hillsboro High School.
Community Meeting - Thursday, January 7 | 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Hillsboro High School
Following the community meeting, the school board will take up the budget on January 26. Current cost estimates are at minimum $70 million or more, with a new building costing $15 to $20 million more than a renovation, which saves the front of the school, the gymnasium and auditorium.
“The renovation is not just patching up some stuff and replacing windows,” Pierce said.
The budget decision should set the direction for the project, and presumably only then whether the idea to sell off the land is fully off the table. That recommendation will go to city for consideration beginning in April, where priorities will be set based on all proposed projects.
“I’m excited about either one (renovation of new build),” Pierce said. “When it comes down to the numbers, if the difference turns out to be $16 million, that’s a Middle School, or two Elementary Schools. But until we get into the details, it’s hard to know.”
