West Burlington, IA – The West Burlington Middle School has been out on the real estate market for roughly four months.
Superintendent Dave Schmitt says there has been some interest in the property, but no serious buyers have surfaced during that time.
The West Burlington City Council would like to see the school district tear down the building.
The goal is for the vacant lot to be used for residential housing.
Schmitt says the two sides are discussing such a proposal.
"Currently, our plan is that it would be a collaboration so we would split the demolition cost and split the legal fees," says Schmitt, adding "then when it came time to sell the lots, we would split that revenue as well. It is strictly a speculative and collaborative approach here."
Schmitt estimates the demolition would cost about $200,000.
He says even if the board votes to tear down the school, it could be the summer before the work gets underway.
Schmitt says that's because the building is still in use for sports and storage.
Fundraising
Meanwhile, the West Burlington School District is looking for the public's help in paying for a couple of projects.
Schmitt says the district formed an activities improvement committee to work several projects.
The three-phase plan includes replacing the current outdoor track, building a multi-purpose room to house the wrestling program and upgrading the football field.
"If you add all of those numbers together," says Schmitt, "you get about a $250,000 fundraising effort. We are just in the beginning stages and we will look to the public to help us out."
Schmitt says the district will cover about 70% of the cost of the project (roughly $600,000).
He says brochures describing the improvement plan are starting to go out to local residents and businesses.