Germantown agrees to sell historic Highway View School

Germantown - After months of searching, the Germantown School District may finally be ready to sell the old Highway View School. Over the school district's winter break, a representative of Germantown Development LLC, contacted Business Manager Rick Ericksen about purchasing the property on Pioneer Road.

On Monday, the Germantown School Board voted unanimously to accept the offer of $100,000 and move forward with the sale. Another vote will be needed to finalize the deal after a contract is drawn up and presented to both sides.

In April the board approved the razing of the historic buildings since the structures had fallen into disrepair. Suitable alternatives were never found as neither instructional nor administrative use would outweigh the potential cost of re-modeling.

Although it was deemed demolishing the building may make the property easier to sell - the property with the buildings had been on the market for several years with no takers - it would cost about $100,000 to raze. The board deemed that a necessary cost if a buyer potentially recuperated the district those costs with a higher purchase price.

In December, the state authorized a loan for the $100,000 needed to complete the demolition. Just a few weeks later, Germantown Development approached the district and made an offer that would allow the district to sell the property without having to do any demolition work.

Part of Monday's decision included the return of the loan - the funds had yet to be used in any capacity - which means not only will the district not have to pay to have the building razed, it will not have to be pay the interest, albeit low, on the state loan.

Originally built in 1890, the former school building hasn't been used in years and the addition, built about 50 years ago, was collapsed and completely unusable.

In fact, the building was such a blight, building inspectors from Polk, where the building is located, had issued what Germantown officials called a "polite order" to clean up the property or face possible legal action.