Thursday, July 6, 2000

Childhood memories inspire area man's school building renovation efforts

Tony Reyes remembers the day a neighborhood bully threatened him.
   Reyes made a mad dash for Park Avenue Day School, which he was attending that year as a kindergartner. As he reached sanctuary behind his school's fence line, the ruffian who had given chase stumbled and scraped his belly on the sidewalk.
   Such childhood memories came flooding back in February when Reyes saw his former school for the first time since kindergarten. The building, at Park and King Street, had long ago closed its doors, becoming a dumping ground and a place that alcoholics, transients and drug addicts used for shelter, before a few of the rooms were eventually rented.
   "Those school-age memories hit me hard," said Reyes, recalling the day he saw not what the building had become, but what it could be. "This is where my education began and now it was my turn to give back to it."
   Using a portion of his savings, Reyes, 42, began pursuing that vision, beginning renovation of the building last month with work on the top floor of the two-story structure. Reyes said he intends to convert the property into affordable apartments, complete with a downstairs laundry room. The top floor should be completed by September.
   Leap of faith
   For Reyes, the project represents a "leap of faith," one reflecting the changes he has made in his own life.
   After years spent pursuing a career in retail, a career path that took him to Dallas, New Jersey, Austin and back to Corpus Christi, Reyes decided the time had come to invest his efforts elsewhere.
   "In the career I had, a lot of my time was spent making things right for other people," Reyes said. "I finally came to a point where I had had enough of that life and from that point on it was, 'God, what do I do now?' type of thing."
   Volunteer help
   Although he had some fears at first, namely financial, Reyes said he felt safe moving forward with his building project, spurred on by the enthusiastic response he received from the three renters already residing on the property and others in the neighborhood.
   Helping Reyes with the debris clearing, painting, window installation and other renovation work are a crew of eight volunteers, some of who plan to live in the property once it is completed.
   "They've basically brought their work ethic and their trust," Reyes said. "And in a way I think this building represents them. Some of them have had a rough life because of alcohol or whatever. They've been through a lot, like this building, but a little tender loving care can begin turning things around.
  
 

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