An apartment project in Jefferson received the “greenlight” from the Greene County School Board.
The Board voted 4-1 in favor to dispose of the former middle school property to NGA Ventures and developer Nate Adams for $1 and a demolition bid of $149,750 from Murphy Construction for the attached gymnasium. The lone “no” vote was from Board Vice-President Catherine Wilson. She said her reason was from hearing comments from community members who didn’t want the gym to be demolished.
Board President Dr. Steve Karber says the main reason why they approved both measures had to do with the initial costs to bring the gym up to code.
“Economically, it makes no sense for us to keep the gym. It would cost us $1 million, and the District would have to foot that bill. And then there would be operating costs that would come out of the general fund, we’re already struggling with our general fund. So we don’t have to lose teachers, we don’t have to lose programs. We just can’t maintain that going forward.”
Superintendent Tim Christensen points out the initial discussion of whether or not to keep either building was done prior to the $35.48 million bond referendum for the new high school and converted middle school projects.
“The first thing would be, we do not need either facility. If we needed the three-story portion: A. We wouldn’t have built a new building, and again the gymnasium going all the way back to the bond referendum and the discussion with that. The sole purpose of remodeling the existing middle school that was the former high school gym and add seating, we would not need the now former middle school gymnasium.”
Christensen anticipates the demolition process to take place within the next couple of months, and then Adams can apply for different tax credits and other funding sources.
Adams says they have signed Lang Construction as the contractor for the estimated $6 million 25-apartment project. He has also identified funding sources and continues to discuss possibilities with the City of Jefferson, along with collaborating with Greene County Development Corporation.