Three options have emerged as county leaders attempt to determine the future of the newly unoccupied Lee Community Center.
The county could upgrade the building, expand the facility or demolish it and construct something entirely new.
“All sorts of things could go on the site,” facilities planning manager Ryan Whitney said on Tuesday, briefing the Leeway Overlee Civic Association on future plans for the building.
It was the second such presentation in a week. County staff also had detailed the results of a consultant’s study to the Langston Boulevard Alliance.
Constructed in 1925 and expanded in the 1950s, the structure at 5722 Langston Blvd served as a public school until 1971 and then as a community center until 2020.
The last remaining program, providing space for ceramics and printmaking studios at what was known as LAC Studios, relocated a few weeks ago to Shirlington, leaving the building vacant.
The architectural firm CGS evaluated the building and its two-acre site and proposed three options for future use:
- Upgrading the building to meet modern code and accessibility standards, estimated to cost $6.2 million
- Removing the 1957 wing, upgrading the existing building and making select additions, estimated to cost between $10.9 million and $15.1 million
- Razing existing facilities and building an entirely new facility, estimated to cost $26.9 million to $58.5 million
“In my mind, it’s really a vast expanse of options,” Whitney said. “These are all options — no decisions have been made.”
The financial estimates were described by staff as extremely preliminary and would depend on what uses the site would be put to. New construction could add affordable housing or other uses while maintaining facilities for a community center, Whitney said.
While the 1925 building has a sound foundation, it has “significant deficiencies” that would need to be addressed if it was retained, a report indicated.
County officials have included $1.2 million in design funds and $14.1 million in construction funds in the current capital improvement program, which looks out to 2031-32. This isn’t a guarantee of funding, but it does signify the county government’s interest in doing something with the site.
County staff have committed to maintaining the century-old building and nearly 70-year-old addition until a final determination is made.
Leeway Overlee Civic Association president Jean Henceroth said she trusted county officials to keep the desires of the community uppermost in their minds as planning moves forward.
“These are really good people,” she said of the design staff attending the Oct. 21 meeting at Westover Library.
All three design options appear to maintain the playground and ballfield on the site, which is bounded by Langston Blvd to the north, 24th Street N. to the south, N. Kentucky Street to the east and N. Lexington Street to the west.
Some of those attending the meeting at Westover Library had lived in the corridor for decades. Few, if any, attendees seemed eager to raze the historic school building, but they voiced opinions on design options and concerns about parking and watershed issues.
All those will be addressed during a future community-engagement effort, the details of which are yet to be worked out.
In March 2020, just a week before the pandemic upended life, county officials announced plans to end community-center operations at the facility.
At the time, the Lee Center was home to a large amount of programming for seniors. In-person programs were curtailed during the early part of the pandemic, and when county facilities began reopening, programs previously using the Lee Center were relocated to the Lubber Run, Langston-Brown and Madison centers.
The artist studios, operated by the cultural-affairs wing of Arlington Economic Development, reopened in early 2022 but ultimately were relocated to the county facility at 3700 S. Four Mile Run Drive.
Plans for future use of the now empty site will be considered as part of broader development of the five-mile Langston Blvd corridor stretching from East Falls Church to Rosslyn.
The proposal calls for maximum building heights of four or five stories in the part of the corridor where the building is located, which would allow for housing or other uses to be located atop any new construction on the parcel.
