Hallways running through the second floor of the former Snyder Clinic are dark and quiet these days and office doors still bear the names of local doctors who practiced medicine there, but school officials are busy converting the old medical center into an educational facility for the county’s children.
USD 465 administration offices moved into the former Snyder Foundation at 1407 Wheat Road in late spring. Both the Snyder Foundation and the adjoining Snyder Clinic were donated to the school system.
Conversions on the first floor are underway. Old clinic waiting rooms and offices are now home to a day school, foster grandparents program, parents as first teachers program and a group placing foster children. The clinic’s former owners stipulated the school system could do whatever they wanted with the space as long as it housed organizations that benefited children, said Estes.
A big smile on Estes’ face sums up how he and his team of administrators feel about the quiet setting, abundant parking – 130 spaces, to be exact – and acres of basement storage.
“We’re really pleased with the space and openness,” he said. “It’s wonderful.”
This summer the school board decided to put the old administration building, located at the corner of Tenth and Millington, up for sale. The 1920s building was put on the market in mid-September, according to school officials. The building has more than 10,000 square feet and a sale price of $125,000.
“We have a lot of sentimental attachments to the downtown building,” said Estes, but he admits lack of parking was a nightmare and the building’s spiral staircase was inadequate. “It was very unhandy.”
Flooding in May prompted administrators to shore up the move as quickly as possible. The old building’s basement had two feet of water that seeped into papers and books kept in storage.
Water damage and minimal parking might not be great selling points for the old facility, but it’s not the only building in the area to suffer from problems. A couple of the old Snyder Clinic’s new tenants left offices with similar problems: one had a leaky roof and another basement office had no windows.
The new space is “probably 100 times nicer,” than their former day school building said Jessi Iverson, attendant care worker for the Cowley County Mental Health day school.
Iverson was busy Friday afternoon hanging decorations while school nurses held a meeting in the upstairs conference room.
The large number of windows has been popular with many of the clinic’s new residents.
“I have a nice window that looks out to the east and I see the sun every morning,” said secretary Penny Snyder, who added she is not related to the Snyder Clinic Snyders. “This (facility) is beautiful. It’s very professional and we definitely needed it.”
Besides housing groups that help children, donators also said the school system had to find a way to pay for the new space without burdening tax payers, the superintendent said, and the school system has been successful in meeting that rule as well. Current leases are sufficient to cover utilities and insurance.
However, further renovations to the second floor are pending until asbestos in the ceiling can be removed. That job will cost the school system $78,000.
“Once we get the asbestos removed we can knock down walls and reconfigure classrooms,” said Estes.
These days Estes spends a lot of time thinking about “what ifs”, such as what if the school system bought an adjoining four acres of property and what if surrounding land could be turned into a botanical garden. With so much space, the possibilities are endless, he said.
