Two interested bidders presented their plans for the former Meridian Elementary School to about 40 residents and Butler School officials at Wednesday night’s community meeting.
Meridian native Brent Thomas discussed the $350,000 offer made by him and his partner, Ken McDonald to develop the school into a senior residential facility. The school would be divided into 42 studio apartments and also include a dining area and a social area. That plan is in a holding pattern due to a feasibility study that revealed there are already a number of similar facilities in the area. The use may be modified to specialize in care for dementia patients. Since Thomas is a contractor and developer, his firm is looking for a partner to administer the facility.
The second proposal came from Michael Wright, owner of 70E Solutions currently located in Connoquenessing. He has made a bid of $425,000 for the school to become the new headquarters for his business which tests electrical protection equipment. The company is about 15 years old and has 10 employees. They had 150% growth last year and expect the same this year. They would not use the school building as a storefront as most of their customers have items shipped. Wright’s machines do not make much noise and he expects the family owned business to be in the building for a long time. Wright did admit that he is also looking at other facilities but would prefer Meridian.
Several members of the public spoke about a desire to keep the playground which both bidders said they were in favor of. Wright said he would maintain the playground but would likely install security features like a gate and cameras to cut down on unauthorized use.
Two members of the Butler Fire District 3 spoke about a desire to address a situation with water from school property running into their adjacent building. Solicitor Tom Breth suggested a meeting with township officials, the bidders, and district administrators to find the best course of action.
Neither bid meets the average of the two appraisals that the district had done on the property but Wright mentioned several reasons who he feels that those figures are too high. The board is not expected to make a decision about the bids until March or April following results of an after action review.
The next community meeting will be held Monday (2/22) at Oakland School. A final meeting will be held February 29th at Clearfield.
Written by and Photos by Ryan Saeler
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