School property to go back on market

The Austintown school district intends to keep B&I
Management’s $260,000 deposit.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown School District plans to quickly put its former middle school property back on the market after the company that bought it 30 months ago backed out of the deal.

The board is scheduled to meet Thursday and instruct the superintendent to begin the sale process again and either seek bids or go through a real estate company, said Michael Creatore, board president.

The school district also intends to keep the $260,000 deposit that B&I Management put down on the property, a move Creatore thinks may lead to litigation.

“We’re not going to pursue B&I, but the board is going to stand firm in its obligation to the taxpayers of the district,” Creatore said Saturday.

B&I, which owns the Austintown Plaza next to the school district’s 17 acres, bid $2.6 million for the property “as is,” Creatore said.

Another firm bid $3 million for the property, but did not agree to the “as is” sale, but instead wanted contingencies in the contract about the cleanup of asbestos and underground fuel storage tanks, the board president said.

What changed

Now, according to a letter received from B&I Friday, the company wants out of the deal.

Creatore said he is very disappointed in B&I’s action. “We acted in good faith. I can’t say the same for B&I,” he added.

The sale was supposed to be closed by late summer, but the deadline was extended to allow more time for negotiations, Creatore said. The building, once the home of Austintown High School, was vacated when the new middle school opened this year on Raccoon Road.

The board president said the $2.6 million was going to pay for a new bus garage under construction on the district’s main campus.

He said the delay in getting the money, however, will not hold up the bus garage project.

Despite his disappointment the deal fell through, Creatore said there may be an upside to the situation.

The 90-year-old middle school building is on prime commercial property, located near the intersection of Mahoning Avenue and state Route 46, and may have appreciated in value over the last two and one-half years, he said.