A massive fire that burned a portion of the A.L Miller School complex will not stop a proposed redevelopment of the shuttered school.

"It's very important to let everybody know, to let the community know that we're not stopping," said Mark Wright, Louisville architect and developer of the A.L. Miller school.

"That we're not giving up on this." Wright wants to turn the A.L. Miller High School into 71 affordable housing units - a project he calls "Miller Village." The early morning fire did not touch the high school building but as project manager Jim Huffstetler explained it burned a separate structure in the back the complex.

"It's the 1950s gymnasium and kitchen - cafeteria area - that looks like it was damaged," said Huffstetler,

Fire Chief Marvin Riggins said firefighters kept the early morning fire contained. "It did not migrate across to the high school side of the structure," said Riggins.

Fire investigators say the cause is suspicious. And developers worried that vandals or the elements would degrade the complex if work didn't begin. "We secured the building, the school board secured it," Wright said. "You can do everything you can possibly do and there is going to be some element you miss and you can't control"

Bibb County Schools had planned to transfer ownership of the A.L. Miller complex in September. Wright says that's still the plan. Developers had hoped to convince Bibb County to move the senior center to the gymnasium building. Wright says that idea is not dead yet either. And, for sure, the housing development will move ahead.

"It's a little glitch," he said. We're going to move forward."

Tags: Bibb County Schools, shuttered schools, closed schools, A.L. Miller