A new Maury High School is closer to reality as many continue to ask what will become of one the oldest school buildings in the state.
The builders and architects behind the proposal to build the new school showed off preliminary designs for the first time at a public meeting Thursday evening at Maury High.
The plans show the new four-story school wrapping around the corner of 20th Street and Llewellyn Ave, where the school’s baseball and softball fields are now.
The renderings show a football practice field hugging the inner corner of the school building. A set of tennis courts sit adjacent to the new building along Llewellyn and a softball field would replace the practice football field next to the existing Maury High building on the same street.
Across Llewellyn Avenue, images show a pool facility and new baseball and soccer fields adjacent to Ghent School, one of the district’s specialty K-8 schools.
The preservation of the pool facilities has been a big topic of conversation at previous public meetings.
Victor Jones graduated from Maury in 1974. He said he liked what he saw Thursday night, but is still thinking about what will happen to the building where he spent his teens.
“The existing building is a historic landmark, and I think they should keep as much of it in its original form as they can,” Jones said. “I think it should be left up for those people like myself … to come back and marvel and have memories of what it was when I was here as a young freshman.”
City leaders have ideas for how to use the historic school once it's empty, including potentially rehabilitating the building into apartments or condos. Nothing has been decided.
City Council will ultimately decide its future, since the city owns all school properties.
The fate of the 114-year-old school has been under consideration for years as the building deteriorated. Students have publicly complained of buckling floors and holes in the ceiling of the building originally constructed in 1910.
Many in the community pushed to renovate and preserve the historic building rather than replacing it. Maury was last renovated in 1986.
Norfolk’s School Board opted not to go with another renovation, instead voting in December 2023 to move forward on a proposal for a brand-new school from Chesapeake-based Heartland Construction, Norfolk-based Work Program Architects and VMDO Architects from Charlottesville.
At the time, School Board Chairwoman Adale Martin said the new school would cost around $160 million to build. The last time the city built a high school was in 2004, when the new Norview High cost $31.7 million, or about $52 million in 2025 dollars.
The city budgeted $137 million for the construction of the new Maury, $30 million of which is coming from a state grant. About $20 million of the cost is for design. Under the current schedule, the school would likely open in 2029.
The design for the new school is roughly 308,000 square feet, according to Robert Hudson with Heartland Construction, with the pool facility adding another 12,000 square feet.
Hudson said his group expects to have designs completed this spring. With the finalized design will come an actual price tag. City leaders will have to decide then to move forward or not.
The city’s current capital improvement plan notes to make room for the construction of Maury, a new Norview Middle School was put off, with design for that project not scheduled until at least late 2028.
That underlines concerns from elsewhere in the city from those who feel the Maury project is being put ahead of other needed improvements.
Councilman JP Paige told WHRO his constituents have expressed concerns about how Booker T. Washington, which historically was the city’s Black high school, isn’t getting the same consideration as Maury.
“I just want to make sure we’re being equitable and fair across our city. … whatever we do for one, we should do for the other,” Paige said.
Booker T. Washington High has been housed in its current building since 1974 and is facing many of the same kinds of issues as the current Maury building. The school district has committed to major repair projects there, including a $7.3 million roof replacement and $14.9 million HVAC overhaul.
Paige acknowledged the efforts underway to get the school “up to standard, but … we should be looking at a new school for Booker T. too.”
However, Paige said if they’re going to build a new Maury High, there’s no sense in holding it up since construction is getting more expensive every year.
“I’m not anti-Maury, I’m pro- ‘do the same for everyone else.’”
NOTE: Norfolk Public Schools is a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds the broadcast license for WHRO.
