Kost sponsors City Council resolution to spare old Eastern High School from demolition

TUESDAY, July 2 — The Lansing City Council is expected to vote next week on a resolution backing an effort to convince University of Michigan Health-Sparrow to preserve the old Eastern High School classroom building and auditorium.

Lansing City Council is expected to consider this resolution to save old Eastern High School in the face of concern that the U of M Health-Sparrow …

U of M Health-Sparrow announced June 7 that it wants to build a $97.2 million psychiatric clinic in Lansing to meet a pressing need for more mental-health beds and indicated a plan to tear down old Eastern to make room for it.

In response to U of Health-Sparrow's announcement, Kost and City Pulse owner Berl Schwartz organized  the Committee to Preserve Historian Eastern and Promote Mental Health. Its members assisted him on drafting the resolution. Kost's eastside ward includes both U of M Health-Sparrow Hospital and the neighboring old Eastern school.

The resolution encourages U of M to move forward on the proposed 120-bed facility but that doing so and saving Eastern “are not mutually exclusive.” It points out the growing number of schools in Lansing, the state and elsewhere that have been repurposed.

The resolution describes old Eastern as “one of only a few buildings” of historic significance “left standing in the City of Lansing that has been well preserved and became a landmark for Lansing much like ‘The Big House’ is in Ann Arbor.”

The resolution suggests that most of the school could be repurposed as a psychiatric facility, while the 1,660-seat auditorium would provide space "for development, training, and education for the staff of U of M Health-Sparrow and the community."

U of M Health-Sparrow has yet to respond to the media or community members about its plans beyond the statement it issued almost a month ago.