CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Good Samaritan has decided to pull out of turning an abandoned school into a homeless shelter, what will happen to the old Lamar Elementary School?
According to the Ed Rachal Foundation, they have others who may be interested in the property.
After hearing from neighborhood residents near the school at Agnes and Laredo, the board for Good Samaritan decided, for now, to leave the shelter where it is.
The Ed Rachal Foundation says they still want to make the property something that will improve the neighborhood.
"I think that there's still hopefully going to be a good use for that property Keeping that building vacant is just not good for the community overall," councilmember Everett Roy said.
3News reached out to spokesperson Paul Altheide who said there is little optimism that Good Samaritan will ever come back to the project, but alternative uses are being explored.
The Ed Rachal Foundation believes the structure is valuable and hopes to transform the school into something that would be economically beneficial for the neighborhood.
Ed Rachal Foundation have already acquired neighboring property that is being cleared. It could be used for parking ora commercial use property.
While the City Council still has to formally approve a grant of $50,000 from the Foundation to help clean up and police the neighborhood, Assistant Chief Mark Schauer says they've already started a bicycle patrol in the neighborhood.
"The deal was more bike patrols. They'll be knock and talks for narcotics, enforce the laws that we have for street prostitution. That's loitering and keep in mind too that part of that is to pick up the guys that are looking for prostitutes," Schauer said.
According to Schauer, some of the funds might be used for speed bumps and making dead-end streets to curb the criminal traffic that uses the neighborhood.
The city would still have to approve a change of zoning if someone else were to occupy the property.
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