By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Efforts to sell the vacant Williston High School property moved forward Wednesday when the Levy County School Board made a counter offer to contract proposal from BluRock Development LLC., the same company that backed out of the original contract with the board.
BluRock is offering $1.75 million for the property this time around. A second company, Pizza & Brew Partnership LLP, offered $1.1 million for the former school site but provided the school board with no site plan and no indication of how it would use the property.
Realtor Cookie King said BluRock withdrew from its original contract when it failed to sign the primary business tenant that would have leased space, but she said the anchor tenant that didn’t sign in the first go-around has expressed renewed interest in a long-term lease.
King didn’t identify the anchor tenant when asked by Board member Paige Brookins if she felt the development would be good for Williston and the community, but she said there is a great deal of excitement at BluRock about the company’s plans for the site.
“Everything I know thus far, they have a plan they’re excited about developing and bringing and they are even more excited now that they have this very good prospect anchor,” King said.
When BluRock first began investigating the school site as part of its original contract with the school board, there was talk of the school property being developed into a retail center.
The school board was mindful that BluRock backed out of its first contract on the school property. School Board member Brad Etheridge won approval for his motion to tighten deadlines in the contract. If the property isn’t purchased by June 1, the company would lose $25,000 for the next two deadlines it misses on July 1 and Aug. 1. Board members said the company has “more skin in the game” when it stands to lose money if it doesn’t meet contract deadlines.
But Etheridge said he believes BluRock is the right company.
“I agree, I think BluRock is probably the right group. I think they’re credible with the research I’ve done. I think they’re the right fit for the community,” Etheridge, Williston’s representative on the board.
The school board is facing a tight deadline of its own. The school district is preparing to meet with the Florida Department of Education in February to discuss plans to build the new Chiefland Middle High School. DOE will rank the project after the February meeting. The Florida Legislature will determine whether the project can be funded.
Edison said the district plans to apply for state special facilities funding to build the new CMHS, just as it did when it built the new Williston Middle High School and Bronson Middle High School. As part of that effort, the school board must commit the 1.5 mills of property taxes it normally levies to pay for districtwide construction projects exclusively to the new school project for three years. The same procedure was used when WMHS and BMHS were built. The school board contributed $8 million of local tax dollars to build the $35 million Williston project. State special facilities funds paid the balance.
The school district must be able to calculate the amount of reserve construction money it has in the bank to carry the district through those three years when the 1.5 mills is committed to build the new CMHS. To make those calculations with room to spare, the district must know by June 1 whether BluRock is going to buy the school property. The school district’s next budget year begins on July 1.
Edison said the school district doesn’t have to worry about the old WHS student stations being a problem for funding the new Chiefland school. The number of student stations in the school district is one of the ways the state determines whether a new school is needed in Chiefland. Edison said the student stations at WHS have been removed from the books and no longer exist as active student stations in school board records. The old WHS student stations were originally thought to be a potential problem if the school wasn’t sold before the school district went to Tallahassee to lobby for state funding.
Edison isn’t certain whether the hurricane-damaged schools in the Mexico Beach area could impact whether state funding is available in the next cycle for the new Chiefland school. He said several public schools in the Mexico Beach area were damaged by Hurricane Michael.
The school board is interested in selling the old WHS just the same. It has no more use for the old campus. The City of Williston has been using the former WHS as a temporary City Hall but is moving out this week. The full process of moving out of WHS could take a couple of weeks to complete, but the city will be out of the building long before the future buyer takes ownership of the campus.
The question of asbestos in the old school buildings was also discussed at the meeting. A representative of BluRock told Spotlight that the cost of asbestos removal was the main factor in withdrawing from the original contract. King said the loss of its anchor tenant was the primary reason and she said there was never a formal study performed by BluRock to determine the extent of asbestos in the school buildings.
“So many times with these old buildings we assume it’s all hot, but it may not be all bad,” she said.
King estimated that the cost of demolishing the campus would run around $500,000 when asked by School Board member Chris Cowart for a ballpark figure on what it would cost if the board handled demolition. Cowart also wanted to know how much the property would increase is value if the school board took care of demolition. King said there would be a value increase. She said the value of the property might rise to $1.7 million to $2 million.
Board Chairman Cameron Asbell said the value increase wasn’t enough to justify the board handling demolition chores.
“The idea of doing the demolition ourselves; I don’t think we will reap any more money for the expense, based on if we spent $500,000 to get the price up by $500,000,” ‘Asbell said. “We haven’t done anything.”
The next phase in contract negotiations is for BluRock to take a look at the school board’s counteroffer and determine whether it can live with the changes to the proposed contract.
Brookins said the board can meet in special session, if need be, to approve the final sale contract.
School Board of Levy County Meeting October 31, 2018
Posted October 31, 2018
