After housing Virginia School of the Arts for 26 years, three buildings on Rivermont Avenue could be used for less dancing and more living —and perhaps basketball training, too.
The school’s main campus could be converted into 30 apartments, while one of its former dormitories has been purchased for a private residence. The other former VSA dormitory, at 2001 Rivermont Ave., still is for sale.
A Lynchburg nonprofit hopes to acquire that building for a school meant to train young basketball players from rural and low-income areas and help them get college scholarships.
“Those types of students have very little access or opportunity for athletic scholarships, simply because of (a lack of) exposure,” said Amanda Williams, a director of Team Genesis.
Her husband, former Liberty University basketball player Harry Williams, obtained an athletic scholarship thanks to the Team Genesis program in Houston. In 2009, he took over the program from its founder, incorporated it as a nonprofit organization and moved it to Lynchburg, Amanda Williams said.
Team Genesis offers free tutoring and SAT preparation help for athletes, she said. Having the former VSA dorms could allow the organization to start a private high school as early as the fall of 2012.
Team Genesis is seeking donations to help it purchase the property, and would be willing to lease it from another while raising the money, Amanda Williams said.
It is one of several groups that have expressed interest in the site, said Martin Donovan, an agent with Blickenstaff & Company Realtors, which is listing the property.
“We’re hoping that the building will be used as some sort of educational center or a community center,” Donovan said. “Hopefully it will be of service to the community somehow.”
Donovan said the other building that formerly housed VSA students, 1919 Rivermont Ave., has been purchased for a private residence.
VSA’s campus at 2241 Rivermont Ave. is slated to become an apartment building. A group of investors bought it last year, planning to lease it back to VSA for a couple of years while the school sought a new site.
VSA’s closure is moving up the renovation plans, said Chris Chadwick, one of the investors. They likely will turn it into 30 rental units, he said.
VSA’s last day in the building is June 20, said Leslie Kozera, the school’s director of operations. She has been working to sell VSA’s property from the building, and most of the costumes are gone. Several pianos, including a grand and a baby grand, are still for sale, she said.
VSA’s board of directors voted in January to close the school after years of falling enrollment.
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