ANAHEIM : School, Housing Project Underway

The dirt has been turned and bulldozers have pounded away at the rubble of the old Centralia School buildings over the last three weeks to make way for a new school and senior housing.

The $5.4-million project has brought together public and private concerns in an attempt to fill the needs of seniors and elementary school children.

The Centralia School District has agreed to lease three acres to developer ARV Affordable Housing Inc. of Costa Mesa for the senior housing. A new elementary school for 600 students will be built on the remaining eight acres.

For the past 60 years, the site has held the original school and district offices. But in recent years, as the elementary school population ebbed, it has been leased to community groups, such as the Girls Club, and a trade school.

Now, with a resurgence in the younger student population, the district hopes to open the new school by September, 1993, said spokeswoman Sally Pollack. Groundbreaking for the school will be in July.

“The money that we get over the 40 years will offset things in the school, like the principal’s salary, utilities and other operating expenses we didn’t have before,” Pollack said.

The 40-year lease agreement calls for the district to receive an annual base rent of $131,000 from the developer plus 5% of the housing’s gross revenue. Because the school district is exempt from paying property taxes, ARV will give half of what it would have paid in property taxes to the district.

Funding for the school will be paid by general obligation bonds already issued, funds from leasing the three acres to ARV and redevelopment money, Pollack said.

Plans for the school include one big building that will house classrooms, a library, offices and workrooms. The district decided to keep two rows of classrooms already at the site because it would have been more expensive to level them and start from scratch, Pollack said.

The 109 units of affordable housing for seniors will be separated from the school by a wall, but school officials hope to bring the residents into the classrooms for volunteer work.

“We really are looking toward that,” Pollack said. “We can’t speak for the (future residents), but we would certainly like that. We have another program in one of the schools where the seniors come in and read to the kids for an hour. It’s a real plus.”