Century-old Utah high school to be demolished

A century-old high school building in south Salt Lake, Utah, is set for demolition, a report by KSL.com says. The Granite Board of Education will award a $2.5 million contract to Staker Parson Co. of Ogden, Utah, for asbestos mitigation and demolition.

According to the report, Ben Horsley, director of communications and community outreach for the Granite School District, said buildings would not come down until August. The school district will preserve bricks and some exterior building features and will make them available to the public at a later date.

Granite High School closed in 2009. The report says the buildings have become too costly to renovate and there isn’t a large enough student population to warrant a renovation. The property had also become a nuisance, with more than 200 calls to the police being made over trespassing, squatters, copper theft, drug deals and vandalism.

Garbett Homes, part of the Logan, Utah-based Wasatch Partners in Salt Lake City, purchased the property for $11.6 million, with the condition that the school district pay for the demolition. Construction of 76 single-family homes in the southern portion of the 27-acre site is already planned.