Wednesday night the Manhattan School District received a report from staff showing the value of several properties owned by the district. A graph showing the values are on page 2. Here is the report:

Background Information

Throughout discussions of building closure and property use for future years this fall, the Board has discussed the possible sale of buildings and property. The Board requested the administration develop property appraisals on several properties. Included in this report are appraisals of requested properties, with the exception of the Kimball site. The Kimball site is controlled by the district as long as it is used for an educational purpose, however it may not be sold by the district.

Current Considerations

The loss of students has prompted the Board to close Eugene Field and Bluemont to K- 12 students beginning in the Fall of 2002. Current plans are to move Head Start from the Kimball site to the Eugene Field site for the fall of 2002. Manhattan Area Technical College (MATC) will move programs into the current Head Start facility on Kimball. A district use for Bluemont has not been defined. Discussion include sale of the property, lease of the property to another agency, or for the building to be retained by the district, but not used at this time.

The Board has also discussed informally the potential to sell other properties currently owned by the district, including 801 Poyntz, Miller Ranch, Anderson Avenue, and Eureka Valley. The 801 Poyntz site has been used for adult education for a number of years. The building and adjacent property was acquired for the possible expansion of Manhattan Middle School and to provide parking. The Miller Ranch site was acquired for the potential site of a future elementary school. The school might be located on this property, or the property might be traded or sold to acquire an alternate site. The property on Anderson Avenue was acquired with the purchase of the 801 Poyntz site and has been used by MATC for power distribution instruction. This site also might be traded for an alternative school site.

The Eureka Valley property was acquired through consolodation in the 1960’s and was used as a meeting place for several years. It has not been recently used for district purposes.