From 1989 to 1998 the building sat empty and like any empty building without care, began to deteriorate. People in government and the neighborhood occasionally turned their attention to the place and dreamed about what it might be. As they dreamed it deteriorated. By 1998 the school district had no more use for an old and crumbling building and formally declared it surplus. The deterioration continued.
News reports record the process.
In 1999 the Fire Department attempted to return the building to the schools, who knew better. And just as MDHA prepared to demolish it, Public Property reviewed the deed and found a reversionary clause a clause that said if the property was not going to be a school it went back to the heirs. Today the Legal Department is in the process of returning the land and the building to the heirs. And all those dreams are gone. I share this with you now because the Turner School has become a case study for us.