IRON MOUNTAIN – The sale as well as the demolition of the Central School building has been discussed a lot since the Iron Mountain Public School District has had more space than it needs to house its students.

The Iron Mountain School District Board of Education held an ad hoc committee meeting Wednesday night to discuss the sale of the 78-year-old Central School building as well as the addition that was built in 1994. The addition has five classrooms upstairs, a gym and locker room area, and the cafeteria with the two buildings connected by a walkway.

The possible sale of the building and was met with positive comments including one person who expressed an interest in the property.

Steve Pedo of Iron Mountain said that he has looked at the school building and has an interest in opening an assisted living complex.

“I’m totally impressed with it. I have a sincere interest in helping others. I want to bring some other people back to look over the building on Nov. 8, get a business projection, and come up with other ideas for the addition,” Pedo said.

He added that buying the building within the Iron Mountain historic district is also exciting. “I came here to listen to the community’s interest about the building. I want to have a partnership where what we do is good for everyone.”

Pedo noted that he moved back to Iron Mountain four years ago and has talked with Mark Blomquist, of Blomquist & Associates Architects about his ideas.

When voters were presented with an $11 million millage proposal in August 2012, the plan was to raze the school building. That proposal was defeated by 46 votes.

The school board and administration heard comments after that vote from people who didn’t want to see the school torn down. But the review of school buildings showed that it was the least efficient building in terms of learning and teaching.

The second millage vote passed in February for $9.5 million with the Central School no longer considered for demolition.

With moving the seventh and eighth graders to B Floor of the high school building this year, the Central School building has been used by Community Schools. The school district has put like classes in the same elementary buildings rather than spreading them between three elementary buildings.

Students in early kindergarten through the third grade are at the newest building – North Elementary School of the Arts – and grades 4-6 are now all located at East Elementary School.

At one time, grades K-8 were at Central School, and grades K-5 were also at both North and East Elementary school using the old neighborhood school locations.

With excess square footage in the school district, the school board was interested in finding out what uses for the building the public would be in favor of as well as what they wouldn’t want the building used for in the future.

The costs to maintain and heat all the buildings in the district, including those no longer in use, led the board to consider its fiscal responsibilities. They looked to ‘right-size’ the building needs to correspond with the number of students they have now – 818 – and what’s projected in the next five years.

The current bond monies are being used to make all the school buildings safe, replace roofs, put in new boilers, enlarge classrooms, and update technology and other areas.

Some money is also set aside to make improvement at the Central addition – $306,000 for work on the boiler and roof repair. If the building was sold, that money could be used in other areas in the district.

The Iron Mountain High School building is 103 years old, East Elementary is 54 years old and North Elementary was constructed 22 years ago. Supt. Tom Jayne noted that all the buildings, including Central are structurally sound.

The board has talked mainly about the older part of the Central School, but if a developer has an interest in the annex addition, the board would be willing to entertain the sale of that portion too, he said.

A 30 year bond that passed in 1991 was to make improvements to the Central School and construct the addition. This bond will mature in 2021. In that bond, was $1.1 million for improvements to the old Central School and $3.1 million went to put in the walkway that connects the old school and new addition, five classrooms upstairs of the addition as well as a lunchroom, gym and locker rooms.

According to Jayne there are still six more years left on the bond. If the school district sells the building, they have to pay off what’s left of the bond. They can’t afford to sell the structure and not have enough money to pay if off. Once it’s paid off, the millage on personal property tax in the city goes down.

Money is also needed by the district to pay off the deficit. There currently is a deficit of $226,444, which will be closer to $500,000 by the end of the school year.

“If we sell, it’s not just to sell. We owe an estimated $960,000 as of June 2015 on the millage. We need to keep that in mind for the sale. It has to make good fiscal sense for the district – we can’t afford to lose money or break even,” Jayne said.

The old portion of the school building is an estimated 40,000 square feet with an additional 20,000 square feet with the addition. To build a brand new building of the same square feet would be between $7 to $8 million, Jayne added.

“We need to downsize from all the building space we have. Even without Central we can still fit more students into what we have right now in the other three buildings. There are empty classrooms at both East and North and two probably at the high school,” said Board member Ed Mattson.

Board member Lisa Basanese agreed noting that they have room to move the cafeteria into the space where Jayne’s office was in the administration building. His office has been relocated to B Floor at the high school next to the principal’s office.

Dean Lefebvre, a resident who is running for an open seat on the school board, asked whether there was an offer for the Central School.

“There isn’t a formal offer. We wanted to open this up to the public and ask you as taxpayers of the district what you think. We, as a board, want to sell and will entertain the sale if it meets certain criteria. We want to know what you see as a viable use of it (Central School),” Jayne said.

He added that they have to consider what works well with the neighborhood which has the high school within 200 feet, homes, and a church.

“But the building is structurally sound – it was checked out before we even started with the bond issue and putting it before the voters. It does need a boiler upgrade, but there are no structural inadequacies that we know of. There is also the potential of property for sale around the building and we have a parking lot across the street too,” Jayne said.

He noted that the building does have an elevator and fire suppression equipment.

Barb Kramer, a Dickinson County commissioner, said she was speaking as the grandmother of a fourth and fifth grader in the Iron Mountain Schools. She said she has talked with some people who might be interested in the building for senior housing or low income housing.

“Your building is in the Iron Mountain Historic District and there are grants available to the new owner through the Historic Preservation network. If a private entity purchases the building, they might be eligible for a 20 percent historic federal tax credit – it’s a significant tax credit.”

“The board has talked about possible uses. We want it to be a win-win and a good match for the neighborhood. Senior living has come up in our talks about it. In an ideal situation, it would be the number one applicable use of the building and a good use for the community,” Jayne said.

Lefebvre said that marketing the old and new portions of Central School is more attractive. “As a package, it’s going to be a lot more marketable.”

Mattson said he would really like to have a good neighbor in whoever purchases the building.

Pedo said that he can see learning activities going on between people in the assisted living and students in the school. “I have an idea and a proposal I’m working on.”

Blomquist noted that although he’s on the architectural team with the Iron Mountain School for the project currently under way through the bond proposal, he may also work on an architectural plan with Pedo for use of the building.

Blomquist asked what the timeline is moving forward on selling the buildings.

Jayne said that they could have other public meetings like this one. “But first of all, the committee will go back to the full board at the next meeting to discuss it. We need to get a request for proposals (RFP) put together and advertise it.”

Lefebvre suggested that when they get a concrete plan for the property they meet with the public again.

Linda Lobeck’s e-mail address is llobeck@ironmountaindailynews.com.