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With Concept 1 Academy LLC withdrawing its application with the city, it is unclear what will happen to the former LaMendola Elementary School building that the company had proposed converting into a private residential academy.
Concept 1 Academy — a for-profit organization — won the bid in an auction Feb. 28 to acquire the 35,000-square-foot building for $19,000 from Huber Heights City Schools.
The school board approved the purchase agreement in March. The two parties have been under contract for the last six months, awaiting the city’s decision on Concept 1 Academy’s request to change the use of the property at 5363 Tilbury Road.
But just hours before Huber Heights City Council was expected to reject Concept 1 Academy's plan, the company filed a notice of withdrawal with the city, effective at 3 p.m. Monday.
Superintendent Sue Gunnell said there’s a contingency clause in the contract that allows Concept 1 Academy to walk away from the deal, if its request is not granted by the city. The building would then go back to the district, and the district also would return the $1,900 in earnest money, she said.
Gunnell said she has a meeting Friday with Concept 1 Academy co-owner Tari Darr. Darr did not return messages seeking comment.
“It will be a discussion of what the next steps are,” Gunnell said.
As part of the agreement, the district gave Concept 1 Academy keys to the building to conduct any testing or surveying necessary, Gunnell said.
The 6.39-acre property, formerly LaMendola Elementary School, closed in 2011. The building housed the district’s nutrition services until the department moved into the new high school during the 2012-13 school year.
After the auction, the district moved everything else out of LaMendola, which was built in 1971. Darr said last week the closing on the property was expected to occur within the next 10 days.
If the building goes back to the district, Gunnell said three options would be considered — maintain it, sell it again in a public auction or demolish it.
Gunnell said the cost to demolish LaMendola would be approximately $300,000, and the state would pay for about half of it since the building was part of the Ohio School Facilities Commission’s original master plan.
From February of this year to date — during the time Concept 1 Academy has had access to LaMendola — the district has paid $10,151 for utilities for the building.
Gunnell said Concept 1 Academy has moved furniture into the building, but hasn’t made any “major changes.” The water is shut off in the building, she said.
“The cost to the district has been nominal, but there’s a cost to the district even if it’s not being used,” Gunnell said.
Gunnell said if a private business occupied LaMendola, it would pay $166,000 a year in property taxes, with $104,000 going to the school district.
Huber Heights resident Paul Clark, who lives on Rosebury Drive, suggested the new library could move in there, or the space could be divided to house multiple businesses.
“Anything that’s closed after 5 p.m.,” Clark said. “We don’t need (a private residential academy) open 24/7, especially with teenage boys.”
No reason was given by Concept 1 Academy as to why it withdrew its application.
If council would have voted Monday night to reject the plan, Concept 1 Academy would have had to wait a year before filing a “relatively similar application,” assistant city manager Scott Falkowski said last week.
Falkowski said Concept 1 Academy can file another application — which would be its third — at any time, but that restarts the process.
In late July, the city's Planning Commission denied Concept 1 Academy's request after several residents expressed concerns about the proposed facility.
The Public Works Committee determined last week that it would recommend to council to uphold Planning Commission's unanimous decision to deny Concept 1 Academy's request.
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