MAGNA — A renovated landmark will anchor what county leaders, business owners and longtime residents hope will be a rejuvenated downtown here.
After eight years of planning, including a failed attempt to turn the Webster School into a community center, the Utah Non-Profit Housing Foundation recently received a zone change that will allow the construction of affordable housing in the currently crumbling school house. When completed, the apartment complex will ideally look similar to the Irving School in Sugarhouse, albeit with a lower rental price tag, said Louie Cononelos, spokesman for Kennecott Copper, which owns the Webster building.
"We've been working with the community to make something happen with this building," Cononelos said. "We're excited to see this finally get done."
The Webster School opened in 1912 and was the elementary school home for thousands of Magna children before closing in 1995. After the closure, the building — which had been built by Kennecott's predecessor, Utah Copper — reverted in ownership back to Kennecott, Cononelos said. Since then, the company and the community have struggled to find a way to preserve both the building and its community history.
The new apartment complex will maintain a portion of the school's facade, with apartments behind the facade and additional buildings on the land, all of which is being donated by Kennecott, that surrounds the school.
"It will maintain the historic look of Webster but will have new and modern housing," Cononelos said.
Laura McDermaid, who has served as chair of the Webster Community Foundation, said that since the closure of the school residents have wanted to keep the old building as part of their community. Even if it's only the facade, she said, it will still provide an important link between historic Magna and whatever the future may be for the township.
"I can't imagine how many generations of kids have attended there," she said. "It's an important part of the community that we didn't want to lose."
Initially, community leaders had pushed for a community center but had to scrap those plans when Salt Lake County balked at the cost of renovating the school. After that they pursued a housing option, which McDermaid said she hopes will be a catalyst for Magna's struggling downtown.
"The Main Street has been going down for years, and we've been trying to rejuvenate it," she said. "We felt it was essential to preserve (the school) as an anchor."
To help that rejuvenation process, Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman said that the county will inject $1.4 million into Magna. Most of the money will be used for infrastructure, such as improving sidewalks and roads, while adding street lighting and renovating store fronts.
For the few remaining business owners in the once-bustling commercial district of Magna, anything that draws people is a plus. Paul Mielke, who runs Copper Belt Hobbies, a place crammed with model railroads and other collectibles, said that while improving the area will definitely help, it won't matter if the word isn't put out to other county residents.
"Get people to know we're out here, because nobody knows we even exist," he said. "We need people in Magna."
Loi Sagato, who runs the Island Kitchen, a bakery with numerous pastries, fish and chips and meat pies, agreed that anything that brings people into the area will help the local store owners. More important, however, is bringing them back time and again, something that the street and sidewalk improvements might help accomplish.
"Whatever can be done to improve the look of the place" would be the most positive step, he said. "Anytime you see a clean, well-lit place, that will bring you in to shop."
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com