Groups express interest in ownership of old W.A. Foster Center
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on December 16, 2016 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Cheryl Alston speaks about the old W.A. Foster Center facility during an informal meeting with the Goldsboro City Council Thursday night. She said she is ready to move forward with turning the building into a STEM enrichment center, which would include a partnership with N.C. State University.
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Mayor Chuck Allen speaks during the informal meeting about the future use of the W.A. Foster Center and transferring ownership of the property. Nearly two dozen people attended the informal meeting Thursday night.
Residents, organizations or other groups interested in preserving the aging W.A. Foster Center have until the end of February to lay out their plans to city leaders.
Nearly two dozen people attended an informal meeting Thursday with the Goldsboro City Council, which has an interest in transferring ownership of the property to a well-organized and financially sound group.
"We want to give it every chance," Mayor Pro Tem Gene Aycock said. "We want to give it back to the community."
Allen said city leaders initially planned to demolish the structure but held off after residents expressed an interest in the 1938 property -- one with deep ties to the African-American community.
"We don't want to be in management of the building, and we don't want to be in ownership of the building, which is our goal," Allen said. "We would like a group that we believe can sustain the building and offer it to the community."
Allen said the building would need to be owned by someone with management skills, financial resources and well-laid out plans. The council will accept ownership proposals through Feb. 27.
"If we see a plan that we believe to be a viable plan, that's who we would try to partner with," Allen said.
Several ideas were presented during the meeting, which was held in the former W.A. Foster Center, at 516 Leslie St.
Members of the C.S. Brown Masonic Lodge are interested in the property due to its historical significance, said Taj Polack, past master of the lodge.
"It is named after a charter member, so we have a vested interest in safeguarding the structure and ensuring it's going to be a benefit to the community," Polack said.
Masonic lodge members met Thursday night, after the city council meeting to explore their options. Polack said the group is seeking grant funding and is interested in using the building for youth and children's programs.
"We're all about working with people," Polack said. "We're willing to partner with other groups."
Cheryl Alston, who has attended more than one council meeting expressing interested in the property, says she already has a plan laid out for the aging facility.
"I am pretty much ready to move forward with a STEM enrichment center," Alston told the council.
The program would include a partnership with N.C. State University educators, a laboratory and geared toward middle-grade students.
"I'm wanting to continue teaching, and I want to turn this into a STEM learning center," said Alston, a retired Goldsboro High School chemistry and science teacher. "I've got many resources, and my business plan is ready."
Anthony Goodson, chief executive officer of the Goldsboro Housing Authority, said the public housing agency is interested in taking ownership of the property and converting it into a community center.
"We are a high performing agency," Goodson said. "We also have the dollars to take care of it.
"We would like to partner with any group or association that is out there, but we have to understand that everybody can't be a chief. We want to partner, and, hopefully, build a plan that will work for everybody within the community so we can have a bunch of groups out here."
The formerly used W.A. Foster Center closed in April around the time that a new $6 million W.A. Foster Center opened at Mina Weil Park.
Building repairs to the heating and air conditioning system and roof and asbestos abatement is estimated to cost $132,000, an amount the city would cover with $150,000 already budgeted for the property. The cost to demolish the structure is about $60,000.
Alston said the property has meaning in the African-American community due to the center being the main location of social events, dances and meetings. It is one of the remaining structures left that tie the community to its history in Goldsboro, she said.
"The history of this building goes back generations," Alston said. "Every kind of social event we had, we had here. Every other black historical building has been destroyed in town.
"They tore them all down like we didn't exist no more."