Boyd Lofts, located in the 113-year-old former Boyd Elementary School building at 1409 N. Washington, will open with 17 one- and two-bedroom loft-style apartments in late spring, according to developer Matt Blevins.
“We are on schedule to open in late May for the lofts. The project includes 17 loft style apartments with around 3,000 square feet of amenity-based commercial space,” Blevins said. “We are working on our branding and marketing package now and should have more info on that in March.”
The permitted uses for the commercial space include restaurant, fitness space, office, retail, daycare, community center and church.
The 26,000-square-foot building has been vacant since August 2021 when the school relocated to a newly constructed building at 833 E. Division. The former Boyd building was declared as surplus property by the school board in December 2021 and sold to Boyd School Redevelopment Corporation in November 2022 for $200,000. City Council approved the redevelopment plan for the property in June 2023.
The first Boyd Elementary was a renovated house opened in 1908 and named in honor of Mary Sophia Boyd, who taught for 41 years in Springfield. After that house burned, in 1911 a multi-story brick structure became Boyd elementary for the next 110 years. Additions to the building were built in the late 1980s and early 2000s. The redevelopment will maintain the historic character of the building and does not involve exterior changes, Blevins said.
“I think that this type of mixed-use development, particularly when it involves adaptive reuse of an existing historic building is what we want in our community,” said Mayor Pro Tem and Zone 4 Councilman Matthew Simpson at the April 17, 2023 City Council meeting. “It meets the goals of Forward SGF, promotes walkability, helps contribute to filling the housing shortage that we have in our community, promotes economic vitality and I think adaptive use projects like this can strengthen neighborhoods.”