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MU sells site to Prestera Center
Verna K. Gibson, left, Secretary with the Marshall University Board of Governors, listens while MU President Dr. Stephen J. Kopp addresses the board Thursday, November 13, 2008, during a meeting in the Shawkey room at the Memorial Student Center.
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HUNTINGTON -- The Marshall University Board of Governors voted 12-1 Thursday to sell Marshall's University Heights complex to Prestera Center, which offered $400,000 more than the other bidder.
Prestera, an addictions recovery center and mental health provider, offered $2,310,000 for the property, which it intends to use to consolidate services near its primary location on U.S. 60.
That bid ex-ceeded the $1.9 million offered by the Cabell County Board of Education, which had hoped to build a new middle school on the site to serve students now attending Enslow and Beverly Hills middle schools.
"It was not an easy decision," said Board of Governors member Gary White, who made the motion to accept Prestera Center's proposal. "We support both institutions. It came down to a significant difference in bids.
"We have a responsibility ... to do what is in the best interest of Marshall University, financially," White added.
Both bids came in above the minimum of $1,867,500, which was the average of two independent appraisals. Had the offers been closer, White said it could have made the decision much more difficult.
Prestera Center Executive Director Bob Hansen said he and his board spent a lot of time deciding how much to offer and where the money would come from.
Hansen said in August the center was trying to get a loan from the Cincinnati Federal Home Loan Bank, but was unable to because of the process taking place with Marshall University. Instead, officials worked out a deal locally.
"We secured a loan with a local bank, and we're going to use some of our own money," Hansen said from the Shawkey Dining Room after the Board of Governors voted, then adjourned Thursday afternoon.
"There was no good plan B," Hansen added. "The more we studied the benefits of having that campus ... it's just a great opportunity to improve our services to the people with addictions."
However, Prestera Center must now look at low-interest loans, grants and public support to raise the estimated $2.5 million to complete renovations of the property, which currently houses Marshall's non-traditional students. The students' leases must be honored through June 30, 2009, and Hansen said that provides ample time to address the issue.
Prestera Center plans to keep all five buildings, which includes the former West Virginia Colored Children's Home, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. It is currently used for storage, while students live in a two-story house and three apartment buildings on the property.
Hansen said the property would house the crisis services, detoxification program, residential treatment and the Renaissance program. He also said the former West Virginia Colored Children's Home would be converted into expanded living spaces that would house patients for six months to two years.
Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith and board member Suzanne Oxley, who were present when the vote was taken, were stunned not only by the decision but also at the money Prestera was able to offer.
"At the time, we felt like ($1.9 million) was high enough," Smith said. "I would have felt comfortable going to $2.3 million."
Smith said he will address the board at Tuesday night's meeting, and the board may go into executive session to discuss alternatives.
"I'll have to talk to the board and see what else we can do," he said.
The idea to consolidate the two middle schools goes back to $61 million bond passed by county voters in January 2006. Smith said in February at a widely attended public meeting that Enslow and Beverly Hills both were on the list to be replaced or consolidated, but they couldn't afford a bond higher than $61 million without raising taxes.
Enslow Middle School is nearing 100 years old and has seen a steady decline in student enrollment. Beverly Hills, while only the half the age, is in the closest in proximity to Enslow, and consolidation and a new school would complete the replacement of all the middle schools in the county.
In mid-September, Smith told board members this was likely the only property in or around east Huntington that fit the mold for a new middle school because it was the only one the School Building Authority would likely approve funding for.
"If the Marshall University property does not become available, then we really can't move forward with an SBA grant," Smith said Sept. 11. "I'll probably recommend to the board that we wait another 15 years to do another bond."
A committee that ranked more than a dozen sites also suggested property next to the Cabell County Career Technology Center that the school system already owns. But concerns over the amount of land movement required to make that site work made it unattractive financially.
And the third site, the Veterans Memorial Field House, was all but eliminated as a choice because the SBA didn't like it.
"We know the SBA is not going to take that," Smith said Thursday. "There's issues at both properties."
