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The Â鶹ÊÓƵ City Unified School District owns a former school facility site in midtown Â鶹ÊÓƵ known as Old Marshall. The 113-year old building on this site was designed by Rudolph Harold, a locally prominent architect who designed Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s City Hall. Old Marshall does not meet current earthquake safety standards, and the property has been closed since 2009. 

Since the site can not be safely used for educational purposes, the District published a Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2017 with the goal of finding a possible alternative use for the site. Developers Mogavero/Bardis were selected from that RFP process. While an agreement was not reached at that time between the District and the developers that was beneficial for both parties, the District has entered into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with the developers in order to explore other options that would be more mutually beneficial. While this process has been moving slowly, momentum for the District to dispose of the property has been notably increasing over the past few months. 

The District has recently begun to conduct the initial steps of assessing value and the environmental and historical significance of the Old Marshall property. The District has also taken steps to improve the management of the property, minimize trespassing and vandalism, and quickly resolve maintenance issues—such as a temporarily malfunctioning fire alarm that resulted in the Fire Department visiting the site on October 24, 2021. 

The District hopes to provide the community an update on the negotiations around the Old Marshall property in early 2022.