The former Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive could get a new life.
The Salvation Army, represented by the Atkins Community Development Corp., wants its 1.77-acre property at 1922 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive rezoned from residential to general business.
The request will be heard by the City-County Planning Board today at its monthly meeting.
Gary Roberts, a project planner for the city-county planning department, said that the planning board's staff would recommend approval, allowing mostly office and institutional uses in the 30,000-square-foot building on the site.
"This is a type of adaptive reuse that will reuse an existing underutilized building," Roberts said.
He said that the board's staff believes that the rezoning would spur reinvestment in neighboring properties.
"We have not had any calls of opposition," Roberts said.
The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club occupied the building from 1952 until June 2008 when it moved to Reynolds Park Road in Winston-Salem.
The Salvation Army still uses the building for storage, and the Southside Community Church holds services there.
The Rev. Steve Angle, the pastor of Southside Community Church, said that he has talked to the Atkins CDC and is excited about reuse prospects.
Lisa Parrish, the director of operations for the Salvation Army, said that it would have been cost-prohibitive to remodel it for a new or existing use.
She said that the Salvation Army has reached an agreement for the Atkins CDC to buy the property, but the deal has not closed.
Carol Davis, the executive director of the Atkins CDC, declined yesterday to comment on plans for the property, saying that they are still premature.
But the CDC's recently released plan to guide commercial and residential development along a three-mile section of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive between U.S. 52 and Waughtown Street, mentions the Boys and Girls Club as a potential business incubator, which would help new businesses get their start.
fdaniel@wsjournal.com
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