have bought some time to find a new location to serve needy residents.
That's because the Cuyahoga Falls School Board Monday voted to postpone soliciting bids to demolish the Sill Middle School site at 1910 Searl St. for six months, while a commercial real estate agent puts the 10-acre property on the market for sale.
The board estimated the cost of razing the 65,000-square-foot structure at $485,000, and plan to revisit the issue in six months.
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The school opened in 1949 and closed in 2005.
Prior to the agenda items, one woman told the board that when she lost her job she also feared losing her home to foreclosure; felt hungry for the first time in her life and the Cuyahoga Falls unit of Good Neighbors assisted with regular food allotments.
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Good Neighbors volunteer Kim Gaug then asked the board that if Sill Middle School is closed, “what will happen to Good Neighbors?” The organization has searched for another property large enough to display the food and clothes distributed to clients, to no avail, she said, asking for more time.
The board debated how much the school building and its 10-acre property would bring, and whether the estimated $80,000 cost of maintaining the building was worth it.
Although school board members were sympathetic to the Good Neighbors’ plight, the board voted 4-1 to hire a commercial real estate agent to place it on the market, with Board President Therese Dunphy casting the lone nay vote.
The board then discussed a proposal on the table to accept bids to demolish the building, at an estimated cost of $485,000. Board Member Barbara Gunter, however, made a motion to table the bid for six months, and the motion passed 4-1.
In October 2009 the Board of Education rejected a $150,000 bid from Carmen Construction Co. of Tallmadge, to purchase the former school.
The property was appraised by the Spalding/Emig Co. in October 2008 at between $600,000 and $1.2 million. However, over the past six years the building has been deteriorating.
Correction: the previous version of the this story reported that Board President Dunphy made the motion to table the bid. We regret the error.