An abandoned downtown Fairbanks landmark will see new life as a private school. Spruce Tree Montessori School has purchased the old Alaska Railroad Depot from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
The depot located behind the newspaper’s building has sat idle since the railroad sold it to the paper and relocated to a new Fairbanks station in 2005. The school plans to transform the languishing property.
The aging metal and glass front former Railroad Depot will get some love as the new home of the Spruce Tree Montessori School, but director Sabrina Binkley says the 1960s-era depot’s basic look will remain unchanged.
Binkley says the railroad depot will accommodate increasing enrollment, noting that the school has gone from 7 to 48 students since opening four years ago, stretching the capacity of its current location in a log building on 2nd Avenue. She adds that interior renovations at the train depot scheduled to be done by next fall, will provide space for up to 100 kids.
Renovations will also include addition of a full kitchen and library, plus upgrades to the surrounding property.
Binkley would not share a purchase price, but the Railroad Depot was listed at $250,000. The land it sits on is owned by the Alaska Railroad, and will be leased to the school. Binkley says the railroad depot purchase and renovations will not to impact tuition.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
