With buyers interested in district property, the Lincoln Street Alternative school building is closer to being sold.
BPS Spokesperson Marcia Wilkinson confirmed that the district has received bids on the property, but did not reveal the names of the interested parties. Amounts of potential offers were not released.
“We’re currently in the negotiations process,” Wilkinson said. “Nothing has been firmed up yet. We’ve not confirmed a sale, but we do anticipate having some information about that within the next couple of weeks.”
Wilkinson added that potential buyers are focused on more than just the school property.
“Some of the interest is in the property where the alternative school is,” Wilkinson said. “[And] some of the interest is in other property we have on Lincoln.”
As for the students attending Lincoln Street Alternative, Wilkinson says nothing has been decided yet.
“If the students in the alternative school were impacted, we are currently working at looking into some alternate locations for them,” Wilkinson said.
If the students were to be moved, Wilkinson maintained that the district would look to relocate them within the current schools as opposed to purchasing any additional property.
There is a chance that the students would end up at Seaholm or Groves, something that Seaholm principal Terry Piper hopes won’t happen.
“We probably would want to avoid putting an alternative school on the same campus as a regular high school,” Piper said. “The whole idea of alternative is a different program, different location, different environment, so [moving to a regular school] kind of defeats the whole purpose.”
As of now, however, Wilkinson said no decision has been made regarding relocating the students.
“At this point nothing’s been determined as far as a location for [the students], because we don’t know yet for sure that that property’s going to be sold,” Wilkinson said.
In addition, the district is looking to sell the BPS administration building, located on West Merrill.
“The administration building is for sale and we’re currently in negotiations with an interested buyer for that property,” Wilkinson said.
According to a March 16, 2006 appraisal, the building is worth an estimated $2.5 million.
Wilkinson said that she has been impressed with the pace of the process, which began in the fall of 2009.
“It’s been moving along,” Wilkinson said. “[We] have to go through a certain process, being a public organization, as far as how we publicize it and how we go about seeking interested buyers.”
