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ZZUNUSED
Favored school site may be sold to Prestera
University Heights Apartments, onwed by Marshall University, houses non-traditional students. Prestera Center has made an offer on the property, which has also generated interests from Cabell County Schools for a new middle school.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- The land the Cabell County Board of Education designated as its top pick for a new consolidated middle school may be sold to a local mental health care provider instead.
The board has called an emergency meeting for 2 p.m. today concerning land owned by Marshall University that the site selection committee recommended as one of three possible locations to build a new middle school.
| Click here for a map of the University Heights site. |
The emergency meeting was scheduled after the Marshall University Board of Governors posted a public notice in Thursday's edition of The Herald-Dispatch. The notice listed a public hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 29, to consider a proposal from Prestera Center for Mental Health Services Inc. to purchase the University Heights apartment complex for at least $1.7 million.
Prestera plans to move its addiction recovery center from 1420 Washington Ave., in the West End of Huntington to the Marshall property, said Tim Morris, Prestera Center's director of corporate development and marketing.
The University Heights complex is located about four miles from Marshall's downtown campus at the top of the hill behind Prestera Center and the State Police barracks off U.S. 60. There also is a back entrance off Norway Avenue that links to Bonnie Boulevard and U.S. 60.
Marshall's student housing Web site describes University Heights as "apartment living for non-traditional, upper-class, and graduate students."
The three large apartment buildings were built by Marshall in 1968, seven years after the university acquired the property. According to Karen Kirtley, Marshall's assistant vice president for administration, there are 43 units with 40 current leases.
Cabell County school board members will meet this morning at the central office at 2850 5th Ave., then drive to the site. The public is welcome to attend the tour. Communications Director Jedd Flowers said the board will not take any action today but didn't rule out another emergency or special meeting being called early next week if the board wishes to pursue negotiations with Marshall University.
University spokesperson Bill Bissett said Wednesday evening that University Heights was for sale, but "it's not like there is a for sale sign out there."
The school board is interested in the property as a location to build a new middle school for the consolidated student bodies from Enslow and Beverly Hills. On Tuesday night, the board heard from Assistant Superintendent of Operations Mike O'Dell and ZMM architect Dave Ferguson regarding 13 sites reviewed by a site selection committee.
The University Heights property, which is about 12.8 acres, was ranked No. 1 by the committee. O'Dell said after the Aug. 5 board meeting that a letter was sent to Marshall University officials notifying them of the site selection committee's review and possible interest the board might have in the property.
Ferguson said the site makes sense because it would need minimal earthwork and has good access, but the board would have to bear the cost of demolishing the five buildings.
One of the five buildings on the hill is the former West Virginia Colored Children's Home, which was put onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The building is the most visible from U.S. 60. It is three stories high with white columns out front. Kirtley said it is unoccupied.
Susan Pierce, the director of the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office, said any changes, renovations or demolition of such a place would have to go through a review process if the organization would be using state or federal dollars. In the case of Cabell County Schools, the use of School Building Authority money to construct a new middle school would warrant such a review.
"We have the right to comment on projects, but not the right to veto," Pierce said. "They just have to demonstrate that they've considered alternatives to avoid adverse affects to the historic site."
Pierce said the review processes occur quite often, and she said her office has been involved in a number of school projects.
Morris, of the Prestera Center, said a deal with Marshall for the property is all but done. He said next week's public hearing will let the community know of Prestera's intentions, which likely includes utilizing and keeping the buildings.
The addiction recovery center that Prestera wants to move to the Marshall property is now in a building that Prestera is leasing. He said the purchase would benefit everyone involved, and it would allow Prestera to have more of its services in one area.
"We're really being conscientious of what we put where and how we look. It'd be an ideal use for that property, as well," he said.
He said Prestera historically has worked well with Marshall University, and the university continues to work with Prestera to make the purchase possible.
"It's moving along rather well. We can pretty much anticipate that this is going to happen," he said.
Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith said he learned of Prestera's negotiations with Marshall earlier this week, but he said he didn't realize how serious it was until he saw the public notice in the newspaper.
