BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
CLARE MARIE CELANO Freehold Borough officials are in the early stages of coming up with a redevelopment plan for the property on which the old Bennett Street School sits. The cost of bringing the building up to present standards may make it difficult to save. FREEHOLD — The brick building on Bennett Street that was first a seat of education to schoolchildren and later the headquarters for the borough’s police force now stands in a state of dilapidation.
The 12,180-square-foot structure, which was built in 1909 as the original Freehold High School, has been vacant for several years since police operations moved to new offices at the Rug Mill Towers on Jackson Street. The borough owns the building and officials have been at-tempting to determine what can be done with it.
Officials have designated the building, which is listed on the State Register of Historic Places, as a redevelopment area. The designation confers a certain status on the site, and the Planning Board is now in the process of designing a redevelopment plan.
Freehold Borough Borough Administrator Joseph Bel-lina said it is the consensus of Borough Council members to try to save the old Bennett Street School.
Whether that will be possible remains to be seen.
The Planning Board has stated that the building has fallen into a state of extreme dilapidation and is substandard, unsafe, unsanitary and obsolescent. The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system is obsolete. A leaky roof, parking space and traffic issues are also concerns.
According to the board, the building is “so lacking in light, air and space as to be conducive to unwholesome working conditions.”
For anyone with designs on buying the building and renovating it, one issue that will have to be dealt with will be the cost of bringing it into compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Eight years ago that cost was estimated at $2 million.
Bellina said he met with people who live near the old school and they expressed a desire not to see the site developed residentially. He said they preferred professional offices or a business such as a dance studio.
Council President Robert Crawford said while he appreciates the historic value of the property, he is concerned that the cost of bringing the building up to code and renovating it may deter prospective buyers.
He said he would like to see the property become a ratable for the community.
Councilman Kevin Coyne, who is the borough’s historian, said it is very early in the redevelopment process. He said the consensus is to save the building. Coyne said his grandfather attended the building when it was Freehold High School.
The building served as a high school until 1926, when the new high school on Broadway opened. The Bennett Street School housed elementary and intermediate school pupils until the late 1960s.
Police moved into the building in 1979, according to Police Chief Michael Beierschmitt, and stayed there until the new police headquarters in the renovated rug mill opened several years ago.