The Board of Supervisors approves the sale, purchase, and development agreement of the Old Bisbee High School in the amount of $900,000. The approval comes after months of preparation, planning, and a request for proposal (RFP). The winning proposal outlines the redevelopment of the old high school into a residential building with 32 rental apartment units.
The Historic Old Bisbee High School, originally built in 1914, has been owned by Cochise County and utilized as office space since 1959. The County began the building’s redevelopment-ready preparations in October 2020, which included completing a regulated building material study report, public community outreach meetings, rezoning to commercial mixed-use, and a Request For Proposal (RFP) process.
The RFPs were evaluated based on the completeness of the proposal, the expected quality of the proposed work, the community value, and the respondent experience. The County’s ultimate vision for the RFP was to ensure adaptive reuse of the historical building, beneficial redevelopment, timely completion, financial return, and architectural preservation.
“This redevelopment will ensure Old Bisbee High School remains a part of our community for the foreseeable future,” says Christine McLachlan, Planner II for Cochise County Development Services. “Additionally, it creates much-needed rental housing in Downtown Bisbee,” added McLachlan. “We hope this will attract residents to the area, who can appreciate low maintenance living in a historically rich setting.”
The purchase is granted to Sunny Tempe Investments, LLC, an investment company with experience in redevelopments around Arizona, which returned the most responsive proposal and the highest bid. The proposal includes the development of a residential apartment building with 32 units at rent market value, community living spaces, and green building upgrades.
To learn more about the proposal, construction timeline, and view visual concept renderings, view the full presentation at https://destinyhosted.com/cochidocs/2022/BOS/20220510_2341/6391_OldBisbeeHS_BOS_presentation2.pdf.
To learn more information about the Old Bisbee High School Redevelopment Project, visit the project webpage at www.cochise.az.gov/822/Old-Bisbee-High-School-Redevelopment.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up