Church congregations have successfully snapped up vacant city school properties over the past few years, but Point of Grace Pastor Shane Cruse was not so lucky in his recent attempt to purchase the sprawling Lee Middle School, which has sat empty since January 2011.
The Columbus Municipal School District’s board of trustees last Monday dismissed the church’s $175,000 bid for the land, building and contents, offering no explanation for the rejection. The 14.4 acre property, along with the 96,350-square-foot building, went on the market last summer, but Point of Grace has been the sole bidder.
Because the school district has not listed a minimum bid or reserve, it was hard to gauge their asking price, Cruse said Tuesday. He based his bid upon the October 2009 sale of Mitchell Elementary, which was sold to Greater Pentecostal Church for $85,000.
Because Mitchell was a 40,700-square-foot building situated on 6.2 acres — slightly less than half the size of Lee’s building and property — Cruse doubled his church’s bid, offering $170,000 for the land and building and $5,000 for the building’s contents.
The church wanted to move from its present location at 503 18th Ave. N., where they intended to offer community outreach with childcare, holiday feeding programs and a food pantry for the needy, classes on parenting and job preparation, and after-school youth activities.
They asked for a six-month communication period with district maintenance personnel for any questions that should arise, and they wanted to remove the covenant restricting future usage as a school in case they later decide to open a Christian academy. They were willing to retain a covenant prohibiting a charter school on the premises.
Cruse said when he asked board members last Monday night why the bid was rejected, he was given no answer. A discussion with Board Attorney David Dunn on Tuesday was equally fruitless, and Cruse said he walked away with the impression the board intended to “sit on the property a while.”
“We wanted to know what about our bid they didn’t like,” Cruse said. “Was it the contingencies we put in our bid? Was it the price? We are willing to negotiate, and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that we could put in another bid.”
The location, nestled in a neighborhood on Military Road, appealed to the Point of Grace congregation, even though the 1950s-era building is riddled with asbestos and is becoming a target for vandals.
“It’s frustrating for us, because it’s in our heart to be there in that community,” Cruse said. “We have so many ministries that we want to pursue. If you look at the area, a lot of what you will find there would be negatives for a developer. But if you knew our heart, you would realize that those negatives to us are exactly why we want to be there. Whatever few thousands of dollars more they might be able to get for the property would, we feel, be nothing compared to what we could do for their students in that area and the community as a whole.”
The board has been reticent about the bid process, disclosing the bidder and bid amount only after a Freedom of Information request was submitted by the Dispatch.
Board President Tommy Prude has not responded to phone calls.
Maintenance versus
demolition
The Lee property will be a difficult sell, said Don West, broker and owner of Coldwell Banker West Realty in Columbus.
Although the residential real estate market has improved, commercial real estate remains sluggish, and there’s enough vacant commercial space in more attractive locations around town, he said.
The board might have better luck if they demolished the building and sold smaller parcels to real estate developers, said local developer Mark Castleberry, owner of Castle Properties Inc. Still, he doesn’t believe it will be sold to a commercial entity, at least not in his lifetime.
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped district must absorb the cost of maintenance, utilities and liabilities. It might be more cost-effective to demolish the building and keep the grass mowed, he suggested.
“The residential market is the logical choice for it, but the demand’s not there,” Castleberry said. “If I was the school board, I’d think in terms of, ‘We’re going to own this thing 10 years.”
Both he and West feel the Brandon Central Services Center, located on McArthur Drive off Highway 45 North, holds greater potential because the building will be easier to convert into medical offices, which might be attractive due to the close proximity to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.
But neither West nor Castleberry believes Brandon will appeal to commercial buyers because it doesn’t have high-exposure.
It could be turned into a small strip center, but the economy is too weak right now and likely will be for several years to come, West said.
The best bet, Castleberry said, would be to demolish the 41,600-square-foot structure and sell the 10.9 acre property to a developer looking to build an apartment complex.
An uncertain future
At the moment, with the school board remaining mum on the topic, it’s difficult to tell what the future holds for Lee or Brandon.
In recent years, Lee housed seventh and eighth-grade students, but with the construction of Columbus Middle School, both Lee and Hunt Intermediate School were closed.
Pastor R.J. Matthews, head of Kingdom Vision International Church, had been using Lee for worship services, but problems with the central air conditioning drove the congregation elsewhere.
Hunt underwent extensive renovations last year and currently houses the Alternative School, special education and gifted program offices and the R.E. Hunt Museum and Cultural Center. If Brandon is sold, the district’s central office will also relocate to Hunt.
The district sold Hughes Alternative School to the sole bidder, Genesis Church, in January 2010 for $50,000.
Coleman, off 22nd Street South, was purchased by the Head Start program, and the old Demonstration School on the Mississippi University for Women campus is owned by the university and used for storage.
Union Academy, which sits on 16th section land, has been leased through 2013 by RTP Inc. for use as an employment training center. State law prevents Union from being sold.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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