If Monday’s agenda session is anything to go by, a place which once housed clothes may become a place of learning. The Hamilton County school Board discussed finding CSLA a new home during the meeting, and the old Sears and JC Penny buildings in Northgate were discussed as a possibility.
One sticking point was the price of the buildings, which were previously thought about being valued at $3.5 to $4 million.
However, after these initial discussions, Bassam Issa bought the buildings. He is now offering the school the buildings for around $8 million (or a little more).
Rhonda Thurman said, “I have a problem with somebody going out and buying a lot of buildings cause they can get funding from someone else, outside of the country, and holding them hostage.”
A few of the other school boarders questioned how worthwhile spending millions of dollars on such a building is in an economy that’s been slowed by COVID-19. Jenny Hill lamented the rising prices, saying that “taxpayers are stuck in the middle as the price goes up.” She also wondered “is this the month to put properties in our back pocket?”
According to the school board, one plan for these buildings was to have CSLA, and possibly other schools also moving into this space if it is bought. This is not set in stone, however.
“How much money are we talking about spending to build two different things,” asked one of the board members. “We are looking at CSLA kindergarten through eighth grade, and CSLA eighth grade through twelfth grade.”
One of the participants said the county will do their “due diligence.” He said that even though buying the Northgate properties might be expensive, it would still most likely be cheaper than buying a piece of land and building another school “from scratch.”
Any bids or purchase will need to be approved by the school board first. Superintendent Bryan Johnson also said the board is not “beholden” to that site at Northgate, and that the department can look at various options before deciding on a place.
“I will be very frank with you all. I am a superintendent with 6,000 employees and 44,000 students,” said superintendent Johnson, “and I’m trying to think about how we create as much operational efficiency to create more resources for our schools and learning environments for our students.”
“We’re in the business of bringing you options. But part of the challenge is that we’re a lot different from a private entity. Because we are public, everything comes from the public, so we can’t turn on a dime. Once we get to a number, it may go up or down, or we may get to a number that seems right to both parties, and the board ups it or downs it.”
The school board is set to discuss the possibility of buying the Sears and JC Penney buildings during Thursday’s meeting.