The Waco City Council on Tuesday will consider buying the shuttered Indian Spring Middle School campus for $32.2 million, clearing the way for the city’s downtown redevelopment project.
The council and Waco Independent School District board will hold a joint meeting to vote on the sale at 6 p.m. at the Bosque Theater at the Waco Convention Center.
The 23-acre property between North Fourth Street and University Parks Drive includes a track facility that is central to the city’s Barron’s Branch redevelopment project. City officials intend to begin next year on a mixed-use park, office and retail corridor anchored by a manmade creek.
The campus’ school building, across Jefferson Avenue from the track, is slated for a future phase of the downtown plan with a mixed-use ballpark district.
The $32.2 million will come from land acquisition funds set aside in the city’s general and capital improvement project budgets, Waco Mayor Jim Holmes told The Waco Bridge on Thursday.
The sale would mean a cash infusion for Waco ISD at a time of uncertainty for public education funding.
Waco ISD would receive the full payment between November and March, said Tom Balk, the city’s director of strategic initiatives. The deal will allow discussions with developers to move forward ahead of the anticipated Barron’s Branch groundbreaking late next year.
“Our goal is by the time we’re starting construction on the (Barron’s Branch) park, we’re going to be under contract with several development interests for at least a few of those sites by summer 2026,” Balk told the Bridge on Thursday.
As part of the deal, the city of Waco would provide learning opportunities for students and a discounted rate at Foster Pavilion for up to two annual graduations until 2037. The city would also provide at least 10 student internships and teacher “externships.”
If approved, the city of Waco will close on the property by Nov. 14.
The deal includes a lease agreement through March 31, allowing Waco ISD an extended move-out period at a nominal rate.
“This agreement reflects more than a land purchase,” Holmes said in a joint press release Thursday with Waco ISD. “This partnership ensures the site remains a meaningful part of Waco’s story. As we reimagine downtown, this property will serve as a bridge between generations — honoring the past while creating spaces that invite connection, innovation, and progress for decades to come.”
In the announcement, Waco ISD Superintendent Tiffany Spicer said the Indian Spring campus “has stood as a place of learning and opportunity for generations of Waco families.”
“It has deep roots in our community,” she said. “As we pass it forward, we are proud that it will continue to contribute to Waco’s future in a meaningful way that is also fiscally responsible during this time of uncertainty in public education funding. Through the Interlocal Agreement, our students and staff will also have new opportunities to learn, explore careers, and see themselves as part of Waco’s future.”
The school complex was built as Jefferson-Moore High School in the early 1970s in tandem with closure of the all-black A.J. Moore High School. It later served as a business magnet school, A.J. Moore Academy, and was repurposed as Indian Spring Middle School in the early 2010s.
The middle school abruptly consolidated with Carver Middle School in fall 2021 after Carver’s campus in East Waco burned.
The combined school moved to the rebuilt G.W. Carver Middle School in 2023. The Indian Spring campus then housed Kendrick Elementary School until this fall, when Kendrick reopened on its original campus after a bond-funded reconstruction project.
