If you think it”s hard trying to sell a house in today”s sluggish economy, imagine trying to sell a 96,350-square-foot school.
The Columbus Municipal School District is ready to move forward with making plans to divest itself of Lee Middle School, which was vacated in January when students moved to the new Columbus Middle School, but local experts say the property could be on the market quite a while.
The school, located at the intersection of Military Road and 18th Avenue North across from Military Plaza, was built in 1953 as a high school for white students. The last high school class graduated from Lee in 1993. In recent years, the facility housed seventh- and eighth-grade students. With the construction of the new middle school, both Lee and Hunt Intermediate School, previously the all-black high school, were closed.
CMSD Board President Glenn Lautzenhiser said Tuesday morning that the board had originally planned to get appraisals for the 14.4 acre “choice piece of property,” but after being “burned” previously by requesting appraisals for buyers who backed out at the last minute, board attorney David Dunn suggested they first think about the process they want to take and develop a game plan.
Pastor R.J. Matthews, head of Kingdom Vision International Church, had been using the school for worship services, but Lautzenhiser said a problem with the central air conditioning caused Matthews to move the services to Cook Elementary, where he is paying rent to use the facilities.
While most agree the property is in a valuable location due to its proximity to the Highway 82 bypass, some say it”s going to be a challenge to sell, because its best use is what it was — a school.
“Ever since they built the new school, I”ve been thinking about what they can do with the old one,” Don West, broker and owner of Coldwell Banker, said Tuesday afternoon. “It”s almost like a church; it really only has one use.”
Like all schools in Columbus, Lee is zoned as R-1 single-family residential. City zoning officer Kenny Weigel said the property would probably end up being rezoned.
West said he can envision nice, high-end condominiums there, or possibly a new hotel establishment, but the building would most likely be gutted or demolished completely as it would take “an extensive amount of rehab” to modify it.
“With the weak real-estate market, I don”t know whether it could be fruitful for someone to purchase it and develop it into something that would pan out in time,” he said, adding that condominiums have done well in recent years — notably the new River Ridge Condos behind the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center — but it”s easier for a developer to build from the ground up rather than take an existing structure and morph it into his or her vision.
And there”s another problem West sees: There”s little demand locally for new housing, retail space or office space. A financially flush realty speculator may be willing to purchase the property and hold on to it until market conditions improve, he said, especially if it”s being sold at an attractive price. But that type of buyer would most likely be found outside Columbus and would require an aggressive search and marketing campaign.
“I really think they”re going to have their hands full as to who would buy the property right now in the current market situation,” West continued. “They need to be well prepared that unless there”s some deep pockets, it may take some time to move it. They”re in need of cash, so they”re going to have to look at discounting that property versus just holding out for something that may be more attractive down the road.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.