Long-vacant Banks High School to be demolished this summer

The long-vacant Banks High School in South East Lake will be demolished following a vote by the Birmingham City Council at its regular meeting last week

Members voted March 9 to approve a bid from South East Demolition and Environmental Services Inc. in Montgomery to demolish the school and remove hazardous material at a cost of just under $398,000, according to a release from the council.

Councilor Hunter Williams, who represents District 2, has worked with Mayor Randall Woodfin’s administration in recent years to have the blighted building repurposed or razed.

“Over the last few years, we have sent out multiple requests for proposals with the intention of attracting private developers to renovate and repurpose the blighted building,” Williams said in the release. “My office also partnered with Auburn Urban Design Studios to work on design plans to save the building and entice potential developers. These efforts have not yielded any offers from developers and the City will be keeping its promise to raze the blighted structure.”

Residents in the area have been concerned for over a decade about the abandoned building, which has attracted drug use and illegal firearm activity.

Williams said that home values in South East Lake and surrounding areas are on the rise and that it was important to make sure that the city-owned Banks property be an asset to the area, not a nuisance.

Demolition is expected to begin in July after approval by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.