What’s next for vacant Wichita elementary? School board moves sale forward
The Wichita Board of Education has approved a contract to sell the former Price Elementary at 6123 E. 11th St. to a private developer for $500,000, potentially paving the way for future residential development in the area if the deal is finalized.
The school, built in 1956, changed to Blackbear Bosin Academy, an alternative middle school, in 2006. It has been vacant since 2011 and went back on the market in 2017, when a bid with Cook Construction fell through.
The former school sits on more than 6 acres.
“It’s a great neighborhood, it’s obviously a nice piece of land and I think it can be well utilized. Obviously the group who purchased it sees a lot of potential in it,” Luke Newman, director of facilities at Wichita public schools, said. “I’m not sure if they’re going to keep the building or build something different on it but I’m excited to see what they do.”
Action at the board’s regular meeting this week moves forward a contract with Garvey Ventures LLC to purchase the property upon completion of some due diligence steps.
A representative for Garvey, Robert Taylor, said the next 90 days will include a property inspection to decide what to do with it and what the next steps are before the final purchase is made. While Taylor did not say what the plans are, the area is zoned for single-family housing.
One person spoke during the school board’s public comment period Monday, raising concerns about multi-family housing.
“Our concerns are that we haven’t gotten any information in regards to what their proposal to construct would be. We’re concerned about multi-family housing in the area,” speaker Rick Neal said. “We’re concerned it would adversely affect our property values in the area and we really enjoy the solitude of the community we live in.”
The item was initially on the consent agenda, but was pulled to answer a question by school board member Ernestine Krehbiel, who wanted to clarify the property was zoned for single-family homes, not multi-unit ones.
Superintendent Alicia Thompson said the purchasers seemed interested in single-family housing.
“That’s what that they have talked and said that they are interested in using [the property for], if they wanted to do multiple .... family unit homes, they would have to go to the city and get that rezoned in order for them to be able do that,” Thompson said. “As it sits today ... it’s for single-family homes.”
Garvey Ventures LLC is prohibited from utilizing the property as a K-12 school.
