With the shuttering of Franklin Academy earlier this year, Columbus Municipal School District trustees must decide what comes next for the property.
Ideas for the property, which has housed a school for the last 204 years, range from a mixed-use development to office space, with the board president recently confirming interested parties have started touring the property.
Regardless of what comes next for Franklin, the building comes with a price tag of about $23 million in necessary repairs to address issues with life safety, moisture in the building and other problems.
On top of that, the property is located on 16th Section land. What is 16th Section land? What does the designation mean for potential developments on the Franklin property?
What is 16th Section land?
The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a system for surveying and dividing public lands into townships, units consisting of 36 one-mile squared sections, each containing 640 acres. Under the ordinance, each 16th section was reserved for “the maintenance of public schools.”
In Mississippi, lands within the 16th Section are held in a trust by the state, and any income generated from the lands, whether it be through timber harvests, farming or commercial leases, is used to fund public schools within the municipality, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office.
Local school districts are responsible for day-to-day management of the land, but the secretary of state’s office oversees that process to ensure the land is managed effectively and that revenue is maximized.
Sixteenth Section land cannot be sold or swapped for other lands unless the land is being sold for industrial development. In that case, the school district must purchase land of the same acreage and value to replace it.
All other uses must be done through leases, with the rent set at fair market value, determined by an appraisal of the land.
What makes downtown Columbus different?
Franklin Academy was established in 1821 as the first public school in the state through a section of the legislative charter that founded Columbus. The charter called for the school to be supported by the lease of lots on the 16th Section land surrounding the property, which would later become the city’s downtown core.
But because the downtown land is state-owned, early business owners could not buy their property outright. To avoid stifling development, special legislation was passed to allow 99-year leases in the section. The legislature in 1830 amended the statute to require all of the leases be renewable forever. That arrangement, unique to Columbus, still governs much of the city’s downtown real estate.
Can the school district sell the Franklin property if it’s located on 16th Section land?
While the Franklin building could technically be sold, the land on which it’s located cannot, CMSD Board Attorney Chris Hemphill confirmed to The Dispatch.
Because the land is owned by the state, held in a trust to benefit public education, the school district cannot sell it outright.
“Whether industrial, commercial, there’s some partnerships you can enter into, but regardless, it all boils down to, you cannot physically sell the land,” Hemphill said. “… But there are ways to develop it that involve some stuff, but it certainly makes it a lot more difficult. You can’t outright sell it.”
Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears, who served on the CMSD Board of Trustees for 10 years, said one challenge with leasing Franklin is that it has never been leased before.
“Because it’s never been leased, it could not fall under the 99-year forever lease structure,” Spears told The Dispatch in a June interview. “It’d be like a new lease that would need to be created.”
If a developer agrees to lease the property, the rental price would be based on the new assessed valuation. The lease amount, Spears said, would be in addition to the regular ad valorem taxes to be paid on the property.
While leasing the school for a new development is possible, Spears said it would require at least three “gates” of approval. The school board would have to agree to the development, and the developer would have to be willing to assume the property.
“The third gate is going to be getting signed off by the secretary of state’s office, who have their public lands department to make sure that what’s going there is going to be the highest and best use of the property,” Spears said.
In practice, this means any redevelopment of Franklin will likely require a market value lease of the land, in addition to purchasing the buildings and paying ad valorem taxes.
Editor’s note: Do you want answers to questions about the Golden Triangle? Each week, Dispatch reporters set out to explain or update a timely, practical issue. Email your question to [email protected].
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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