The Morning News: FHS for sale

For Sale: One High School
Fayetteville Board Offers Campus To University Of Arkansas For $59 Million; Sets Deadline
LAST UPDATED THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2008 9:37 PM CDT IN NEWS
By Rose Ann Pearce
The Morning News
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FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville High School is for sale.

That is, it's for sale if the University of Arkansas wants to buy the 40-acre campus for $59 million.

But the university will have to move quickly. The Fayetteville School District wants to know the university's interest by July 1.

At the same time, the Fayetteville School Board on Thursday authorized Superintendent Bobby New to explore the purchase of a 73-acre site on Morningside Drive.

Neither action means the high school will be sold and the school will be moved to the Morningside Drive site as recommended by the Future of Fayetteville High School Select Committee II last month.

The action does set into motion a movement off high center.
"We're floundering," said John Delap, a school board member who made the motion to approve a recommendation by New to offer to sell the high school property to the university.

"We've been playing the 'what if?' game for the 18 months I've been on the board," Delap said, saying the recommendation was a way to determine the seriousness of the university's interest in the property. "This will be the most complicated real estate process, if it happens, that you can imagine."

School Board member Becky Purcell cast the lone dissenting vote because the $59 million pricetag is below what the property is worth to the school district.

"This price is way under what this property is worth," Purcell said. She attaches a value of $85 million to the property, taking into account a replacement value of buildings and facilities of $45 million and $40 million for the land.

An appraisal, completed last year by the school district, places the value at $62 million.

A similar appraisal done by the university sets the value at about $56 million.

"This site is adequately serving our needs," Purcell said, referring to the current high school. "We are not in a position that we need to sell," she added, pointing to academic achievements that occur in the building.

There was no immediate reaction from university officials who learned of New's recommendation last week. A spokesman for the university said at the time the recommendation would be considered.

The university Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet next Thursday and Friday at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, at which time the purchase of the high school property could be discussed.

If the university indicates its interest in purchasing the high school campus by the July 1 deadline, the process then moves into a stage in which terms and conditions of the sale will be negotiated. The School Board will have to approve any negotiation terms and conditions.

"I anticipate this conversation with the university won't happen overnight," New said. "We have to begin this journey with the university tonight ... every detail, every comma, will come to the board."

"You won't have a valid contract until both parties sign," said Rudy Moore Jr., the board's attorney.

Such a real estate deal would be the largest ever negotiated by the school district and the university.

If the university says no to any deal -- seen as unlikely -- the effort to move the high school to a new site is stymied and any negotiation for the purchase of the Morningside property is halted.

"I won't pursue purchase (of Morningside) until funding is in place," New said.

The Morningside property has been priced at $5 million, said Sally Rose, one of the owners of the property. Rose attended Thursday's meeting with other family members.

The property is not listed for sale at the current time since a deal fell through earlier this year.

At A Glance


Superintendent Search

The Fayetteville School Board received three proposals from search firms to conduct a national search for a new superintendent. The job was declined this month by Bryant Superintendent Richard Abernathy.

School Board President Steve Percival said the proposals will be reviewed and representatives of the three firms likely will be asked to visit with School Board members before a firm is hired.

Proposals were received from Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; McPherson and Jacobson, Omaha, Neb.; and Hazard Young Attea and Associates of Plainview, Ill.

Superintendent Bobby New plans to retire at the end of the 2008-09 school year.

Source: Staff Report