Site chosen for new Centertown school
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School board members voted unanimously at a special called meeting Wednesday afternoon to purchase a 32-acre tract of land, part of what is referred to as the Charles Turner property, which will be the site for the new Centertown School.
The total price for the property is $360,000, but as part of the deal with Paul Holder Realty, the old Centertown School will be traded in at a value of $75,000, leaving the school system providing the $285,000 balance in cash for the property, which comes to approximately $11,250 per acre.
School board members said they were pleased to finalize the deal.
“It feels great,” said Building and Grounds Committee chairman Mike Holland. “I just hope everything else falls together like it should. We’ll start breaking ground here about August of this year, and we’ll start building the new Centertown School on the Charlie Turner property.”
Though the choice had been narrowed down to two properties, the Turner property and the Jones property, for some time, Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale said a couple of things affected the board’s decision on the Turner property. First, the land came out well in the various tests required to approve it for construction.
In addition, school architect Derrick Clemow, of Upland Design Group, told board members the Turner land would be easier to develop.
“The architect’s endorsement of it,” Hale added, “that’s important because he’s dealt so much with this area, whereas we haven’t. So we’re just pleased and glad to be at this point and ready for the next phase to begin.”
The deal to trade in the current Centertown School is convenient because it will absolve the school system of having to sell the property as a separate transaction. Holder said the main reason he worked out the trade is because he has adjoining property.
“I’d just sort of like to own it because I own some land around it,” Holder said.
Though Holder says he hasn’t made a decision about what he will do with the school building, he did say it has some sentimental value for him since he attended school there himself.
The paperwork will be drawn up so that Holder will not be deeded the old Centertown School, which includes around nine acres of land, until it has been vacated and the new school is in operation.