The Lawrence Board of Realtors plans to expand its headquarters building at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Monterey Way. Crews clearing diseased trees this week in preparation for expanding the parking lot. at Left, the addition, on the left half of the building in this artist's rendering, would double the structure's size.

The addition, on the left half of the building in this artist's rendering, would double the structure's size.

An 89-year-old former schoolhouse is about to get back into education, this time for more than 400 professional pupils looking to keep current in real estate.

The Lawrence Board of Realtors is adding onto its headquarters building at 3838 W. Sixth St., the former Brackett School at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Monterey Way.

The $500,000 project, expected to be completed by year’s end, will double the size of the building by adding onto its north end – allowing for an efficient layout of executive offices, plenty of room for storage and, most important, the opening of a classroom big enough to handle dozens of agents working to keep their Realtor designations current.

“We’re able to restore what was an original one-room schoolhouse back to its original use,” said Rob Hulse, a Realtor with Stephens Real Estate who led the project as the board’s president last year. “We provide a great deal of education to our membership, and we need a better place to provide those services.”

The board also uses the building for maintaining the organization’s Multiple Listing Service, the expansive database of real estate available for sale in the Douglas County area.

Work on the construction site began earlier this week, including the removal of some diseased oak trees near Sixth Street. The project will expand parking from the current 10 spaces to a total of 37, taking advantage of an expanded lot near Sixth Street and a new one to be built behind the two-story addition to the north.

A new access point also will be added along Monterey Way. Traffic coming into the site will use the existing entrance, while vehicles leaving will turn onto Monterey by using the new access point at the north end.

The Lawrence Board of Realtors has 443 members, all but 33 of them Realtors who are licensed to represent buyers and sellers of property.

The board, which formally joined the National Association of Realtors in 1965, has been working out of the old school building since 1991, after having previously occupied leased office space downtown.

The board had 163 active members in 1991.

The school was built in 1918, after a 1916 fire destroyed a wood-and-brick building that had been around since 1904, when the original building was demolished.

The first schoolhouse went up in 1866 for School District No. 54, and was named for the district’s first superintendent, George Brackett.

Brackett School closed along with the district in 1963, and the building’s other uses included a plumber’s shop and architect’s office. Kay Wertzberger, the board’s executive vice president since 1996, remembers a produce shed operating off the school’s east side, and others recall fireworks stands open on the lot back when it was outside the city limits.

Now, with the school building still standing at the intersection of two busy city streets, board leaders couldn’t imagine moving out. They considered options for relocation, razing and renovation, but settled on expansion and haven’t looked back.

“This was definitely the right way to go,” Hulse said, “for all the right reasons.”