Decatur Schools to partner with developer on childhood center drawings

Decatur’s school board approved a collaboration Tuesday with Columbia Ventures on architectural drawings for a new 22,500-square-foot early childhood learning center projected to open in 2017. The school would be assimilated into Columbia’s mixed-use development at Sam’s Street and East College Avenue, which could eventually include 500 apartments.

But actually building the school is dependent on voters passing a $75 million general obligation bond in November, then on the board willing to commit a portion of those funds to the project. The architectural drawings alone will cost $125,000 to $150,000, with an initial $54,000 payment due later this year. Columbia Managing Partner Dillon Baynes said, however, those drawings will prove valuable even if the ECLC isn’t included in his company’s development.

“Completing those plans means [City Schools Decatur has] done the really heavy, critical thinking,” Baynes said. Those plans are reusable. They could wait until later and build [a new ECLC] somewhere else.”