Aurora School Inks Deal For Paxton Center; $9M Renovation Planned

After a year and a half of delicate negotiations, the hope that Aurora School can be relocated to the Paxton property in northeast Leesburg has come to a happy resolution.

The trustees of the Margaret Paxton Memorial For Convalescent Children this week signed a 10-year lease with and LARC, the Arc of Loudoun to let the historic Carlheim mansion become home to Aurora School, which currently serves children with disabilities in Purcellville.

The lease, which comes with two renewable five-year terms, and the subsequent relocation of the school will satisfy the terms of Rachel Paxton's 1922 will, in which she stipulated her home was to be used for sick and needy children. She named the home in memory of her daughter, Margaret, who died earlier.

The property has not been occupied for the past three years, after trustees closed the Paxton Child Development Center that operated there. The possibility that the 16-acre property could be sold for development spurred efforts by neighbors and town leaders to preserve the home and its outbuildings.

After threat of legal action by the Paxton Board of Visitors, which has an advisory role to the trustees under Paxton's will, both bodies worked to find a organization that would serve children in the way Rachel Paxton intended.

The Rev. John Ohmer, Rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg, was a catalyst for the search for a suitable tenant. As a member of the board of visitors, Ohmer pressed the trustees to not close the school but find an organization that would serve many area children with special needs.

"The signing of this lease is a huge step toward honoring ... Mrs. Paxton's last wishes."

State Senator Mark Herring (D-33), who acted as pro bono attorney for LARC, praised the trustees for their actions and for the generous terms of the lease, which he said would mean a "great use for the property" and would help many children in the area.

"It wasn't easy, but we are thrilled with the result," said LARC Executive Director Eleanor Voldish. The Aurora School, which was founded in Purcellville in 2003 to serve children with autism and other special needs, is a program of LARC. It has outgrown its current space. Currently, there are 25 children enrolled in the school.

"I can hardly believe it," an ecstatic Jennifer Lassiter, director of the school, said yesterday. She noted the lengthy negotiations with the trustees. "But, the end result was the right thing," she said, adding part of the long negotiations was to assure the board of trustees that Aurora was going to be the right candidate and to be able to fulfill the terms of the will.

It will be some time before the school can open at its new location. Lassiter said it would probably not be until the fall of 2009, because the building has suffered vandalism damage, water damage through broken pipes and in general needs considerable repair before it can be used again. Because the permit to operate a school on the property has lapsed, Aurora will have to go through the Town of Leesburg's special application permit process.

The trustees have agreed that the building should be completely restored and brought up to code. A feasibility study estimated the total cost of restoration, repair and bringing the property to handicapped accessible status would come to approximately $9 million. The study was funded in part by Centex Homes, which gave $10,000 of the $19,000 cost, private donations and assistance from the board of the Loudoun Restoration and Preservation Society, which will work with LARC and Aurora to find the capital money required for the restoration.

"The exciting thing is that there will be a child care center there again," Lassiter said. "The focus will be on children with disabilities and those currently not served. LARC hopes to expand the student body to 40 and to provide programs the school is currently not able to support-sports, arts, pre-and after-school care-and, most importantly, to serve as a resource center for parents and other nonprofits.

Lassiter said the 11,000-square-foot gymnasium would become home to the school itself, while the restored mansion will be used as the resource center, with a library and administrative offices for Aurora and other nonprofits. The four bungalows on the property will be renovated to meet handicapped accessibility requirements and will be used for preschool and day care children.

For Lassiter, the move to Paxton is the opportunity to give to other children what the school gave to her family with her autistic daughter Katelyn's attendance and growth, socially and academically. The change for her daughter has been extraordinary, Lassiter said.

"It taught her how to communicate, and everything else came from that," she said.

As part of the $9 million total, LARC and Aurora plan a $1.5 million capital campaign to provide disability access in all the buildings at Paxton, while retaining the historic integrity of the property. The fund already has its seed money-$250,000 obtained through the auspices of Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA-10).

"It will be our home, but we want it to be something the community will love, too," she said.

For LPRS President Vernon Davis, the agreement came as a wonderful surprise. The society has been concerned about the fate of the 1872 mansion, which, he said, was unique in Loudoun, both in terms of design and in the fact that so many amenities were designed for it, including running water, electricity and a burglar alarm, at a time when Loudoun was still reeling from the devastation of the Civil War.

"I'm thrilled," he said yesterday, noting the lease arrangement will ensure the preservation of the building and the ability to provide services to children, parents and to other nonprofits.

"It would be a fine example of what could be done," he said.

Working with LARC and Aurora, Davis said the preservation society would set its sights on an initial chunk of $4 million or so. He plans to approach local businesses and national philanthropic organizations that support education for children, autism and historic preservation.