Chase City approves conversion of long-shuttered school

After a long debate, Chase City’s aging, disused Robert E. Lee Community Center is set to be turned into apartments. The fate of the former school has long been a topic of discussion in the Mecklenburg County town, with one local group hoping to turn it into a music venue, a local YMCA eyeing it, and a Richmond-based developer seeking to convert the structure into residences.

On Feb. 10, the town council narrowly voted down a plan to sell the building to developer Edwin Gaskin, the owner of Richmond-based Echelon Resources, for $1 — a vote that prompted the town manager, C.F. “Dusty” Forbes, to shout, “My resignation is on your desk,” according to The Mecklenburg Sun.

Forbes later withdrew his resignation while town officials and the developer tweaked details of the proposal. On March 24, council members voted unanimously to transfer the building to Echelon Resources, which plans to transform it into 25 mid- to high-end apartments, mostly one-bedroom units.

The building’s price was set at $10,000. If Echelon sells the building within five years, the town will get another $100,000.
Gaskin declined to discuss details of the plan for the building until a contract with the town is finalized. “It’s taken a patient path to get to this point,” he says. The developer has redeveloped numerous historic buildings, including transforming a tobacco company warehouse into the Imperial Lofts in South Boston.

Asked about the former school’s Confederate name, Chase City Mayor Alden Fahringer says it will be up to a new owner to decide if it remains named for Lee.

Gaskin, who has a long record of turning older structures into apartments in Virginia and North Carolina, first approached the town in late 2022. Council members gave the first chances at redevelopment to local groups, but none were unable to take on multimillion-dollar renovations.

Forbes says he attended the Lee school for fourth and fifth grade, not long before the building’s regular academic use ended around 1980.
By the time Forbes became town manager more than five years ago, the building had been empty for a long time, and he says he was frustrated by the council’s February vote because the school could be part of wider redevelopment.

“I guess good things come to those who wait and persevere,” Forbes said after the council’s March decision.