Utah Heritage Foundation

Garfield School, a Tudor-style structure built in 1921 in the Wasatch Hollow neighborhood of Salt Lake City has been a building in limbo for the last four years.

A Request for Proposals was issued last Saturday to purchase the 4.73 acre site and school building with preservation considerations as recommended by the SLC Planning Commission.  The RFP is available  here .

The Salt Lake City School District declared Garfield School as surplus property at their November 1, 2005 meeting.  The Garfield School property is a 4.73 acre site and is located at 1838 South 1500 East.  Around the time of the meeting, UHF fielded several calls from neighbors concerned about how to preserve the historic school building.  We advocated to the school board that they follow a RFP process similar to that of Douglas School when a private school came forward as the willing buyer.

However, Salt Lake City bought Garfield on July 12, 2006 as they considered it for a site to co-locate a new police and fire station in the Sugar House area.  However, in a few public meetings the neighborhood reaction to this proposal was not overwhelmingly positive.  Again, UHF fielded many calls on how to preserve the school building.  The general obligation bond to build the new facilities failed in November 2006 and the city remained undecided as to the future of the property until this year.

Mayor Becker's administration moved to begin the surplus process for the school earlier in the year.  While Garfield School was in front of the Planning Commission in May 2009, UHF strongly encouraged them to either landmark the structure or place a preservation easement on the property before its sale, thus preserving the building.

The building is currently eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and with nomination could qualify for historic rehabilitation tax credits with the right reuse plan for commercial or residential rental use.