BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — As Bob Acord walks around Chesterfield Elementary School, he sees more than an empty building.

"It would be the classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym, and then we have an annex where our pre-K classrooms were at that would also be made into apartments," he said.

What You Need To Know

  • Chesterfield Elementary in Burke County could soon be turned into apartments

  • The living spaces will be for teachers and first responders

  • The school district is conducting a feasibility study

Acord, director of auxiliary services for Burke County Public Schools, sees potential.

"I think it would be a great option to be able to sell Burke County to folks when we go to job fairs," Acord said.

The building that now sits bare, aside from being used by law enforcement for training, is part of a feasibility study.

"It's 41,000 square feet," Acord said.

The district is hoping to turn classrooms into apartments that will be set aside for teachers and first responders.

"I think just for folks coming straight out of college or out of a training situation where they are graduating and starting the first step, to have an option for housing, especially for folks who may move from two or three states away," Acord said.

He moved to the area in 1997 from West Virginia and remembers how hard it was to find housing.

"I would have loved to have an option for something like this," Acord said.

If the study is approved, the main room of the building could one day be a common room for those living in the apartments.

"This could be an area that is used for tutoring, educational-type activities," Acord said.

The district is in the first stage of the study.

The next meeting to go over the feasibility study is in November.