Austintown school board approves sale of former school to grocery-store chain

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

After more than a decade and multiple disappointments, the school board has finally closed a deal that will take the Austintown Fitch Middle School property off its hands.

The school board at a Wednesday special meeting unanimously approved a resolution that will allow it to transfer the deed for the 5800 Mahoning Ave. building to Meijer Stores Limited Partnership, the company that operates the Meijer grocery-store chain.

The sale price is $2.6 million. The school district will receive 61 percent of the net sale proceeds, while the heirs of John H. Fitch will get 39 percent. That agreement was reached after two years of litigation between the school district and the Fitch heirs.

The money that the schools receive from the sale must be put toward permanent capital improvements and cannot be used on short-term expenses such as employee salaries. There are not yet any specific plans for those funds, Superintendent Vincent Colaluca said.

School district officials lauded the deal as beneficial to the entire Austintown community. The former school has sat vacant since a new middle school was built more than 10 years ago.

“This is a benefit for the school district – taking an eyesore and a burden off us – but really it’s a benefit for the community,” said Colaluca, noting also that Meijer will generate tax revenue for the township that the school district did not have to pay.

“We are pleased, pleased, pleased. It’s been a long time coming, and we’ve worked through a lot of questions, problems and concerns,” said board president pro tempore Dr. David Ritchie. “It’s a long-awaited day for the township and for this school district.”

The school district has been in talks with Meijer for several years and before that, had other potential sales unravel.

Meijer is a multi-billion dollar, privately held company that operates 200 stores across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to the company’s website. It was founded in Michigan in 1934 and considers itself a pioneer of the one-stop shopping concept.

Darren Crivelli, zoning inspector for Austintown Township, said Meijer submitted plans for a 192,000 square foot building last fall. The company expects the store to be in operation by 2021, Crivelli said.