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NEWS
New appraisal ups price of MU property
HUNTINGTON -- A second appraisal of the in-demand Marshall University property along Route 60 has been delivered to the two agencies that want it.
The land, which sets atop the hill behind the West Virginia State Police barracks and currently is used for nontraditional student housing, was recently appraised at $1.817 million, bringing the average of the two appraisals to $1,758,500.
Cabell County Schools already has submitted a cash offer of $1.8 million. Prestera Center has offered $1.7 million, but its offer is contingent upon approval of a grant and loan, and an answer isn't expected until early November.
Prestera Center's first offer was based on the 2007 appraisal of $1.7 million.
Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith said the school board will discuss the second appraisal at its meeting Tuesday. Smith said the board could vote to alter its offer based on the average, but he anticipates any adjustments would be to increase the offer and not decrease it toward the average.
The Board of Education wants to build a new middle school on the property to replace Beverly Hills and Enslow middle schools.
Prestera Center Executive Director Bob Hansen was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but executive assistant Miranda Olmos said the organization's board has scheduled a meeting to discuss an alternate proposal. Hansen said in late August that the loan and grant applications to Cincinnati Federal Home Loan Bank total more than $4.2 million, with about $2.5 million included for renovations and remodeling of the student housing already located on the property.
Hansen has said Prestera would use the property to consolidate its services into one location, including crisis services, detoxification program, residential treatment and the Renaissance program. He also said Prestera would renovate the former West Virginia Colored Children's Home, which also is on the MU property, into expanded living spaces that would house patients for six months to two years.
The Marshall University Board of Governors has the final say in which entity it will sell the land to, or it could decide not to sell the land at all. The next Board of Governors meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 13.
