New life for a 20-year-old Myrtle Beach school for $21 million

One old school could get new life.

Horry County School board members are considering spend more than $22 million to re-purpose the old Myrtle Beach Middle School to serve as a new Myrtle Beach Elementary School.

The old elementary school, built in 2007, could house the district’s adult education program, and the Boys and Girls Club, said school board chair Joe DeFeo, adding that plans are not finalized.

Adult education programs used to be housed in the Myrtle Beach Family Learning Center, which was demolished to make room for the new Myrtle Beach Middle School, set to open next year.

According to Horry County Schools’ cost estimate, it would cost almost $8 million in future maintenance and repairs at the middle school, such as replacing the gym floor, carpet, HVAC, and light bulbs, among other repairs.

The full cost to transition the school, including fire sprinklers, more classrooms and maintenance work, is almost $22.5 million.

“Considering we would increase the life another potentially 40 years, I can see it being a reasonable upgrade,” said DeFeo.

The old middle school, which holds over 1,200 students and was built in the late 1996, is still in use due to the delay in completing the new Myrtle Beach Middle School and will be vacant during the next school year.

Work converting the school could begin between February and April, and end in August, according to district estimates.

“We just built a new elementary school for $38 million,” said DeFeo. “But I’ve also made a phone call and said ‘What would it cost to build that school today?’ By the time we decided to build another school, it could closer to $48, $49 million dollars. I think the money’s well-spent, all things considered.”

The board will still have to decide whether or not to spend the money.

This story was originally published October 10, 2017 at 3:13 PM with the headline "New life for a 20-year-old Myrtle Beach school for $21 million."