Albany County schools sell Old Slade site for workforce housing project
Old Slade’s vacant campus at 1212 Baker Street could become more than 30 workforce homes after a sale approved below appraised value.
A vacant former school at 1212 Baker Street is headed toward more than 30 workforce homes after Albany County School District No. 1 approved selling the Old Slade property to the City of Laramie.
The school board signed off at a Wednesday meeting and accepted a price $200,000 below the property’s appraised value, even though earlier offers had reached $1 million. The city now plans to pass the land to the Albany County Housing & Land Trust, turning the abandoned public site into housing instead of letting it sit empty.
Old Slade has been vacant since students moved to the new Slade Elementary in 2022. Under the current plan, the site could hold more than 30 homes, with earlier versions of the proposal describing 34 dwellings or townhomes. Mayor Sharon Cumbie said in December that the homes could be ready within about a year to a year and a half, and supporters have said some units could be aimed at teachers or other school employees, though those details have not been finalized.
The project lands in the middle of a housing crunch that has been building for years. Wyoming housing-planning materials tied to a 2024 statewide needs assessment show Albany County’s population rose from 34,926 in 2010 to 37,311 in 2021, a 7% increase, and the county is projected to reach 41,602 by 2030. City housing plans also call for thousands of additional units by 2030.
For local employers, the appeal is practical. Fred Schmechel, interim chair of the Albany County Housing & Land Trust, has said affordable housing can reduce recruitment costs and improve retention. That matters for teachers, city workers, health care staff and service employees who often cannot compete in Laramie’s tight rental and homebuying market.
The deal also shifts a long-running neighborhood problem toward a public use with wider value. The Albany County Housing & Land Trust says it works with local government, lenders, developers, employers and residents to expand housing, making the Old Slade site a test of whether public land can be turned into a lasting workforce-housing asset. If the sale closes and construction begins, one of Laramie’s most visible abandoned school properties could become part of the city’s answer to its housing shortage.
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