The Butler Area School District has rejected a revised offer for Broad Street School and the prospective buyer may be ready to move on.
“You’re voting to sell this building. Mr. Convery, “Yes”. Mrs. Cummings, “No”. Mr. Halle, “No”. Mr. Korn, “Yes.” Mrs. Teff, “No”. Mr. Vavro, “Yes”. Mrs. Bradrick, “No”. Mr. Clark, “Yes”. Mr. Conrad, “No, not yet”. Motion fails.”
The board rejected the motion to sell the property to J.M. Beatty Furniture for a revised offer of $400,000 with a proposal to lease the playground to the city for as long as the city would maintain the area.
Among the reasons for rejecting the proposal, some board members did not like the reduction of $130,000 from Beatty’s previous bid. Others were in favor of waiting for results from the After Action Review Committee which should be determined next month.
A representative of Beatty, Blaine Duffy of Parker, attended the meeting and made it clear that Beatty was not willing to wait longer.
“This started back in November, we were waiting on this property, we’re starting to get antsy and want to move forward with a yes or no. Does the school board want to move forward with the sale or not? If you guys say no, we’re just going to say thank you very much and we’re just going to pursue some other options,” Duffy made clear before the vote.
The board did pass a motion expressing their willingness to accept offers for Broad Street and consider offers if they are received. The average value of the property according to the appraisals paid for by the district is about $456,000.
Written by Ryan Saeler
