FORMER LEE MIDDLE SCHOOL PROPERTY
A FAMILY PROJECT
When Ruth Berry first stepped foot in the old Lee Middle School building, after her husband, Scott Berry, purchased the property in 2018, the building was vandalized and full of asbestos. Ruth was sure Scott’s plans to replace the run-down classrooms with apartments and office spaces and the auditorium with an event venue would never work.
Nearly three years later, the first phases of Scott’s plans have neared completion, and Ruth and her daughters, Becky Scott and Julie Markle, have come together to finish them after Scott died in 2020, before he could fulfill his dream of turning the Lee property into a thriving business development.
Designated a historic landmark by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 2018, the building was originally Lee High School in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. It saw the racial integration of Columbus schools and Scott himself graduated there in the 1970s.
“He loved this school, and it means a lot to us as a family to be able to (finish his project),” Ruth said.
Phase 1, converting the classrooms on the second floor and north end of the first floor into studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, was completed in October 2020 when residents began moving in. Becky said the apartment complex, now called Lofts at Lee, is about half-full, with more potential tenants calling to ask about residency every day.
The apartments come equipped with the usual closet space and kitchen appliances, but Scott preserved some of the aesthetics of the old school per MDAH’s requirements for historic buildings. The banisters on the stairwell are original to the school and the old school lockers have been left in the hallways or moved to apartments to be used as cupboards and storage space.
Phase 2, converting the auditorium into Lyceum at Lee, will hopefully be complete by the end of February. The Lyceum will be available for rent for weddings, concerts, conventions and other events. Becky said local businesses have already reached out to her asking about renting the space for Christmas parties or charity galas.
Upstairs, the old school library has been turned into a suite for rent with the Lyceum. With three bedrooms, three baths and kitchen space, Ruth and Becky say they imagine it could be a bridal suite for anyone who wants to hold a wedding at the lyceum.
Phase 3, which the family expects to be complete by the end of the summer, includes supporting spaces for the lyceum, including a prep kitchen for catering, a dish room and storage space, all where the school’s music rooms used to be in the hallway off the auditorium.
Once those renovations are complete, Becky hopes to turn her attention to other parts of the building, including the cafeteria, which the family wants to transform into a restaurant, and the gymnasium.
“I just can’t wait to see what the community thinks of this space,” Becky said. “... It’s been a labor of love to pick it back up.”
STORY BY ISABELLE ALTMAN
PHOTOS BY CHRIS JENKINS
