KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A facelift is in the works for the historic old Galbraith School in South Knoxville. County leaders have been talking about what comes next.

The school dates back to 1930 when it was built and used as an elementary school. Unfortunately, the historic building has been sitting vacant for quite some time and one group is trying to bring it back to life by turning the school into multiuse apartments.

“It will be a really exciting place to live,” Principal Architect at Heyoh Designs Logan Higgins said. “There is currently a courtyard in the middle of the building and it’s kind of open on one end. With the addition, we are going to enclose it a little bit and that will have some added outdoor space in the courtyard and a swimming pool.”

The process while in the very early stages is bringing attention to the revitalization of old buildings.

“There are members of the community here today that have told us about when they were kids and went to school there,” Higgins said. “That’s really exciting to see and a lot of people have been wanting to see it get new life.”

Despite the positives this project would bring, some in the community are weary of increased traffic along Galbraith School Road and they have those concerns for Knox County Engineering.

“There are things they are requiring us to do, perform studies, get analysis and to make sure all the right signage is there,” Higgins said. “We have looked into a few different sight features where we can kind of help increase the visibility.”

The building built back in 1930 is looking for a much-needed facelift and that is what Higgins is hoping for.

“It is really exciting to see adaptive reuse and we have seen it all over town. Every time a building gets reutilized we are just excited to see it and in this case really excited to be a part of it.”

The item was approved by the Knox Planning Commission with the stipulation that one item is changed regarding the amount of metal siding used to revitalize the exterior of the building. As of right now, there is no timetable for construction on the project to start.

If you are interested in learning more about this project you can head over to Heyoh’s website where they will have the detailed plan for the Galbraith School.