Charlottesville City Schools announced Wednesday that the US Department of Education has approved its application to acquire the former Federal Executive Institute property.
The property transfer comes at no cost to the division through the Department of Education’s Federal Real Property Assistance Program because it would be used for educational purposes.
“I think someone said there's an Abbott Elementary reference about ‘free is my jam.’ And so I think our community is excited, as we are, that we're acquiring this for free,” CCS Superintendent Royal Gurley said at Wednesday’s press conference.
CCS plans to use the property primarily to consolidate its preschools, and it also will move administrative offices from Walker Upper Elementary School to the roughly 14-acre parcel. This move — along with the expansion of Charlottesville Middle School (formerly Buford Middle School) — will free up other CCS properties for expanded alternative education and special needs programming.
Gurley said that the district had money allocated for a preschool center before the FEI opportunity was on the table. The $30 million allocated for the consolidation of CCS’ preschools now will be used in part for renovations that would create classroom spaces with connected restrooms.
The school system also would be able to maintain its August 2026 planned opening of the preschool, the division said in a press release.
“It’s just amazing to think that one transaction can make all the difference across the system,” Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders said at Wednesday's press conference. “And that's really what I'm excited about.”
In a statement, Sanders said that getting the property for the district is “truly a generational win.”
The FEI had been used by the US Office of Personnel Management as an executive training center. In February, President Donald Trump eliminated the institute with an executive order; the campus of five primary buildings and other facilities was deemed surplus.
Along with CCS, the University of Virginia floated a proposal to acquire the property on North Emmet Street. A UVA spokesperson on Tuesday said the university would have used the buildings to expand its School of Continuing and Professional Studies — which offers adult education programs to the local community — as well as its ROTC programs.
In response, Matthew Gillikin and Steven L. Johnson, co-chairs of Livable Cville, urged the UVA Board of Visitors to vote against acquisition of the FEI, withdraw its formal expression of interest in the property and endorse the CCS bid.
“The City of Charlottesville and Charlottesville City Schools lack the financial resources and the flexibility that University of Virginia does in acquiring new property for educational use,” their letter states. “Acknowledging this reality, the Board of Visitors can help realize a positive vision of UVa enabling and facilitating the strengthening of our local schools and the local community.”
UVA spokesperson Brian Coy told VPM News on Tuesday that the university initially explored the “possibility of submitting a joint application with the City of Charlottesville” but were rebuffed by the federal General Services Administration.
The university then submitted its own application, Coy said, in “recognition that, if we didn’t submit, the property may go to a third party (neither city nor the University).”
The division has reached out to federal officials to work out the timeline and next steps for the property’s acquisition. That will include a review of the facilities, as well as a finalization of the agreement with the US Department of Education.
