Board may approve buying former school
OHIO STATE /
Ohio State University is making moves to purchase the former Indianola Middle School from the Columbus Board of Education.
Members of OSU’s Board of Trustees discussed the purchase at the Master Planning and Facilities Committee Meeting on Thursday. The full Board of Trustees will vote Friday on whether to allow the university’s president and vice president for business and finance to take action on the purchase.
The 9.3-acre property at 420 E. 19th Ave., near North 4th Street about a mile east of the university’s main campus, is listed in the Columbus Register of Historic Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.
It’s too soon to say whether OSU would pursue renovations if it secures the property, said university spokesman Christoper Davey.
The former middle school is one of 13 surplus properties the school district’s Neighborhood School Development Program voted to sell in September 2016.
The building officially went on the market in February. Under Ohio law, school districts are required to allow schools in the community to purchase properties at the appraised value — in this case, $2.35 million — before pursuing any other offers.
No charter schools in the area expressed interest in the property, said Scott Varner, spokesman for Columbus City Schools. That left the district with two options: sell the property directly to an interested party, like OSU, or put the property up for auction.
“Right now, the district and our Board of Education have not determined which option is best to pursue,” Varner said.
OSU isn’t the only one interested. Varner said several prospective buyers have shown interest in the building.
An auction for the property would start at the appraised value of $2.35 million. If OSU decides to purchase and the district chooses not to auction off the school, the university will have the property appraised by a third party before making an offer.
The two-story, former middle school has been vacant since June 2010. That year, Columbus City Schools approved a $26 million renovation for the building that would have combined the district’s French and Spanish immersion schools under one roof.
Before construction for the district’s plan had even begun, members of the University Area Commission already had serious concerns about it, the Dispatch reported.
Members of the commission worried the changes would damage or compromise the detailed interior of the building, which was built in 1929. Designed by architect Dwight Howard Smith — best known as the designer of Ohio Stadium — the school has distinctive Art Deco detailing, built-in wood cabinets and shelves and a large fireplace in the third-floor library.
In 2012, the renovations came to a halt when the school district fired Reynoldsburg design firm Machisa Design Services from the project.
Machisa architect Anthony Udeagbala sued the district for $41 million, claiming that racial discrimination had been the reason the firm was fired. But in October 2013, U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. ruled that the school district had not discriminated when it ended its contract with Machisa.