Video: Mary Holmes College Building To Become Greenspace

WEST POINT, Miss. (PRESS RELEASE) – When Community Counseling Services (CCS) purchased the former Mary Holmes College campus in 2010, renovations immediately began – not only the landscape of the acreage, but to all of the buildings as well. The Mead Holmes Administration Building was one building that was so badly damaged CCS wasn’t sure it could be saved.

Jackie Edwards, Executive Director of CCS stated, “We worked tirelessly on all of the facilities on the campus and when it came down to the Mead building, repairs were estimated in the millions of dollars. Asbestos and old chemicals from the laboratory hindered access and our ability to renovate the building. We sought out grants to assist in the cleanup, but could not find adequate funding. The costs were too prohibited for us to save this one building. “

CCS was able to garner a $200,000 Brownfield Clean-Up Grant to remediate the asbestos and hazardous materials and level the building for a greenspace.

Richard D. Duggin, COO/CFO of CCS explained, “Part of our plan with the EPA was to remediate the hazardous materials and repurpose the footprint of the building and surrounding area into a greenspace with a meditation trail, benches and additional parking for the chapel and museum using reclaimed crushed concrete and other recycled materials.”

Alumni reunions from classes as far back as the 1960’s up to the 2000’s continue to be held each year on the campus. CCS wanted to make sure that lives that the school impacted has an opportunity to say farewell to the building.

Duggin commented, “It was important for us to be very cognizant of what this college meant to so many people throughout the tenure of its operation. As we have been working with the EPA and our environmental company, PM Environmental, Inc. to get everything lined up, our plan has always been to have a remembrance ceremony or gathering so alumni could visit one last time. We reclaimed as many of the bricks on the building as possible to be reused in other projects because of their historical affiliation with the college and to lessen the impact on the environment.”

The remembrance ceremony will be held Wednesday, April 12, 2017 beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the gazebo/courtyard adjacent to the Mead Holmes building.

Brief comments will be made by local officials and alumni reunion coordinators.

The chapel and museum will be open and light refreshments will be served.

Abatement and demolition of the building will begin later in April.