from “le détroit” · the strait
DPSCD will tear down the 1928 Cooley High this summer for a sports complex. A meeting Wednesday is residents' last chance to weigh in before work begins.
Detroit Public Schools Community District is holding a community meeting this week where Superintendent Nikolai Vitti will hear residents' concerns about the planned demolition of Cooley High School and lay out what the district intends to build in its place. For anyone with something to say before crews arrive, this is the opening.
DPSCD said earlier this month that the full structure on Detroit's northwest side will come down this summer. The decision reversed an earlier plan to save part of the building for use as a locker room, alumni space, and community room. Vitti said the cost and timeline to complete that preservation made the district change course.
A state grant is driving the schedule. The district is using $15 million in state funding that must be spent by September 30, which means demolition and the first phase of site work have to be finished by then. The full project carries a $25 million price tag, with the remaining $10 million raised through the DPSCD Foundation. The new athletic complex is planned to include a football field, an outdoor track, and green space open to the neighborhood, with completion expected in 2028.
Cooley opened in 1928 at 15055 Hubbell Avenue, designed by the firm Donaldson and Meier in a Mediterranean Revival style. It was one of the grandest school buildings in the city, and it served the northwest side for decades before closing in 2010 as district enrollment fell. The building has sat empty since, drawing arson, blight tickets, and safety complaints.
"Due to years of public outcry regarding safety, arson attacks and blight tickets, the building will be demolished," Vitti said.
He framed the decision as an emotional one for the people who passed through Cooley. "The District understands that the demolition of an historic high school such as Cooley can be an emotional moment for alumni and the community," he said. To honor that, the district plans to preserve bricks, the bell towers, terra cotta medallions, and entry archways, with cleaned bricks handed out to alumni and salvaged pieces worked into the new complex.
The in-person meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 10, at Renaissance High School, 6565 Outer Drive West. A virtual session for alumni and others who cannot attend is set for 2 p.m. the following day.
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