Bureaucrats v. Brutalism

Architectural preservationists and the Sarasota County School District have struck an agreement over the fate of Riverview High School, an important work by Brutalist architect Paul Rudolph. The school board wants to raze Rudolph's deteriorated (and overcrowded) béton brut buildings, important examples of regional modernism—specifically the Sarasota school—in order to build a parking lot. Opposed are those who would prefer to walk, damnit. Kidding—opposed are those who hope to preserve, rehabilitate, and potentially repurpose Rudolph's campus and find another place for students to park.

The agreement gives preservationists one year to raise $20 million to fund an elevated athletic field (a soccer field and tennis courts) with parking underneath. I don't know the ins and outs of this and can't say how likely that is, but one detail from the (prior linked) article irks me. It's a quote from Bob Early, associate superintendent and chief financial and business officer for the Sarasota School District:

[H]e does not have "a spreadsheet that shows two columns: what it would cost to renovate and what it would cost to rebuild," he said. "Our sense is that we can't renovate the building."