Burton School District to acquire Masonic Lodge

In an effort to keep up with the demands of a student population that has doubled in the last 10 years and increasingly limited space, Burton Unified School District has agreed in principle to purchase the Masonic Lodge located at 2440 W. Henderson Ave. for $895,000.

A purchase and sale agreement was presented to the BSD school board at their board meeting on Monday, where it was unanimously approved, officially allowing the transaction to proceed. The district has been negotiating the terms of the sale for the past month with the current property owner.

Sharon Kamberg, BUSD superintendent, is excited about the acquisition of the property, and says that it will give the district some much-needed square footage for training teachers and administrative staff.

“Immediately, we will use the building for staff training,” said Kamberg. “Long term is yet to be decided, but we’re going to get creative. We have lots of ideas and plans that we are going to work out with our consultant, but we want to have some ability to engage our community as well.”

One idea has been to eventually relocate the BSD district office to the new property, as the district has essentially outgrown its current office site located between Burton Elementary School and Jim Maples Academy on Westwood Street.

The district had explored other options for acquiring additional administrative space, including expanding and remodeling the current district office, but purchasing the Henderson property became a much more cost effective alternative. Kamberg stated that quotes for the remodel plan were $400 per square foot, while the price on the new property came in at $80 per square foot. BSD had previously leased a property

on the corner of Prospect and Morton for training facilities, costing the district $60,000 per year in lease fees, but decided to vacate the property and use funds elsewhere for the district.

The property consists of 1.55 acres and a 10,000 square-foot structure, and was acquired earlier this year by the current property owner, who had already begun remodeling the building to make it suitable for large gatherings. Kamberg stated that the building’s steel framework will give them additional flexibility if the district should decide to modify it in the future. The property was assessed this year at $984,198.

The current owner originally had no intention of selling, but his own ties to the district and an interest in giving back to the community compelled him to reconsider.

“The owner told me on several occasions that he wouldn’t have sold the property to anyone but BSD,” said Kamberg.

With enrollment at 5,000 students and district area of only nine square miles, Burton School District has been actively seeking additional resources for current needs as well as future growth. They recently broke ground on their 10th campus just north of Summit Charter Collegiate Academy, and in August of 2016 they acquired the property that was once home to the drive-in theater on Newcomb, which will be the site of an additional campus in the future.