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District to demolish old school
By Elise Franco
Austintown
The Austintown Local School District is ready to move forward with the demolition of the nearly 100-year-old former middle school.
Board members voted 4-1 during Monday’s regular meeting to accept the hiring of Olsavsky Jaminet Architects of Youngstown for the management of the demolition. Hiring the firm will cost $22,500.
Board member Harold Porter cast the lone no vote.
The 97-year-old building, at 5800 Mahoning Ave., has been vacant since the new middle school opened on South Raccoon Road in 2007.
This Land is My Land Ltd. made a deal with the district in 2005 to purchase the property for $2.6 million, according to Vindicator files, but that deal later fell through.
The district attempted to sell the property at auction in 2010 but garnered no interested buyers.
Superintendent Vince Colaluca said that after giving the issue serious thought, the board decided it was time for demolition.
“This gives us the authority to move forward with putting together the bid package for demolition,” he said.
Colaluca said the project will include asbestos removal, complete demolition and bringing the land back to natural green space. He said this will make the property safer and more aesthetically pleasing to residents and also more attractive to potential buyers.
“It’s a property we’re not using. ... Right now we have an eyesore as a remembrance of our school,” he said.
Colaluca said it’s too soon to estimate how much the entire process will cost. The money would come from the district’s general fund.
Porter said leaving the building standing is a reasonable option because “It costs us nothing to have AMS there, and for the money we’ll spend, we could sit on the building for 20 or 30 years.”
“It’s not that I’m so much against the building going down, it’s [the cost,]” he said.