Preservation North Carolina outlines option to protect College Street School to Clinton board

Maggie Gregg, regional director for Preservation North Carolina’s Eastern office, told the Clinton City Schools Board of Education on April 23 that the nonprofit can be an intermediary to preserve the historic College Street School through an option-to-purchase agreement and easements that run with the deed.

“It's an option agreement,” Gregg said. “It says within this period of time, we would purchase it for x amount, and that allows us to work with the property … without having to outlay the money to purchase all of the properties that we're trying to save.” She added that preservation projects commonly combine tax credits and financing tools, noting “those tax credits are, 20% state, 20% federal.”

The presentation described Preservation North Carolina’s Endangered Properties Program, which negotiates directly with municipal owners to place rehabilitative covenants and, if appropriate, market properties to developers that agree to rehabilitation and community conditions. Gregg cited recent work at Dunbar School and other sites and said the nonprofit uses option periods to arrange developer selection, rehabilitation schedules and, if needed, legal enforcement of rehabilitation agreements.

Board members asked whether the district would be the first in the county to use the surplus-property/preservation pathway and raised the possibility of visiting comparable projects. Gregg said she would try to arrange site visits and provide sample covenants, rehabilitation agreements and option documents for the board to review.

Next steps: the district will discuss internal options and consider scheduling a site visit. Gregg said she is available by email and to follow up with sample documents and developer contacts.