EDWARDSVILLE - During the work session of the Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 Board of Education, Board members and Superintendent Dr. Patrick Shelton discussed the possibility of purchasing warehouse space for the district.
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Shelton said that he wanted to “build some understanding and context around our need for a warehouse” by discussing the district’s current solutions and how Hadley House is utilized. He explained that there was previously 5,000 square feet of storage and office space in Lincoln Middle School that was torn down to make way for the new gym that is currently being constructed at Lincoln.
Following this, the district leased 17,000 square feet of space between BJC Healthcare and Kohl’s in Edwardsville from April 2023 to June 2024, at which point BJC Healthcare evicted the district because they needed the space. Since then, the district has stored maintenance items, chairs and desks, orders and other items in the schools.
Shelton noted that the district needs to be more efficient when ordering items and knowing what is available, which is why one storage space is preferred. The three potential solutions are to build, lease or buy space.
The district originally planned to build an 11,000 square foot warehouse, which would have cost between $4–5 million. The plan was to build this warehouse on the northeast corner of the Edwardsville High School campus, though Shelton said Board members “weren’t crazy” about the idea of taking up space on the EHS campus where sports teams often practice.
The second option — to lease a space — also had challenges, as the district struggled to find space within the District #7 footprint. They looked at leasing space in the warehouse district, but the district only needs a few thousand square feet of space, not the 170,000 square feet that the warehouse district offers. Shelton added that the rental rate was between $10 to $25 per square foot in 2023.
“If we could find another 4,000 square feet, we would pay between $40,000 and $100,000 [per year] to lease that,” he said. “We would run the risk of, number one, it being challenging to find, and number two, being evicted like we were before.”
The district secured a lease at 19 Kettle River Drive in Edwardsville with 7,000 square feet of climate-controlled storage, which makes it useful for technology and food service storage. However, Shelton said they need an additional 4,000 square feet of storage, which is why they want to purchase a new warehouse space.
The proposed purchase would provide 3,776 square feet of warehouse space and 2,429 square feet of office space. The district has secured financing through Busey Bank at the cost of $1.55 million, which would come from the Operations and Maintenance fund. The site is adjacent to the EHS sports complex.
“It does require some light conversion in terms of shelving, getting the network connection there for offices, and then some light renovation of specific spaces,” Shelton said. “But truth be told, we could move in it tomorrow without doing anything to it.”
The property would also become the D7 Operations Center, with offices for the Food Service Department, Facilities Department and Technology. It would also serve as a storage space for records that currently are housed in Hadley House.
Shelton explained that Hadley House has served as offices and storage space over the last several years. The space primarily stores personnel records and other records that legally must be stored for several years. Shelton noted that most of today’s records are digitized, though the district often still prints back-ups.
The house, which was built in 1875, underwent a structural review in 2023. The review revealed that all of the files must be removed from the house because the house, which is technically a residence, is only built to withstand 40–100 pounds per square foot, while office spaces or file rooms are built to withstand 125–250 pounds per square foot.
“We’re putting a lot of load in that building, and that doesn’t include the load of people and permanent fixtures and things like that,” Shelton said.
Once all of the records are removed, the structure needs six months to a year to adjust before the district addresses needed renovations, including fixing warping, bracing vertical support posts, patching plaster, and asbestos and lead abatement. There are also historical concerns and parts of the building that must be restored or preserved.
“The last thing we want to do is not have Hadley House, number one,” Shelton added. “I want to make sure that’s clear. It’s never being torn down, at least, I think, as long as this Board and this superintendent are in. But it also sits in a very prominent place in our district and has a very prominent history in our district, and we want to make sure that we are upholding that to the extent that we can.”
The Board discussed the proposed warehouse purchase, which would also store the records from Hadley House. They have not yet voted on the purchase of the warehouse.
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