East School is close to being sold

The School Board has reached an agreement to sell the vacant East School to a real estate developer who has recently purchased several properties in Springfield, including the Odd Fellows building on Main Street.

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Published December 11, 2015 in the Rutland Herald East School is close to being sold By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER SPRINGFIELD — The School Board has reached an agreement to sell the vacant East School to a real estate developer who has recently purchased several properties in Springfield, including the Odd Fellows building on Main Street. School Superintendent Zachary McLaughlin said Thursday the School Board voted Wednesday night to sign a purchase-and-sale contract for the school with DAL Advisors LLC, for $91,000, about 40 percent less than the $150,000 asking price. Darrell Lee, principal of DAL Advisors, has purchased three properties in Springfield in the past year: the Odd Fellows Building on Main Street, 9 Taylor Drive and 70 Valley St., according to town records. McLaughlin said the agreement includes a 60-day period to allow Lee to conduct due diligence and conduct inspections on the classic 1920 brick schoolhouse. The sale also includes 2.5 acres of land on Summer Street, which included parking and a playground for the elementary school.. Lee recently moved to Vermont from Los Angeles, and he has said in the past he is busy buying properties in Vermont and New Hampshire, working on them and reselling at a profit. This summer, he bid on the Woolson Block in downtown Springfield, which was up for tax sale, but was outbid by Housing Vermont and the Springfield Housing Authority. McLaughlin declined to say what Lee’s plans for the historic school were, saying that information should come from Lee. He noted that Lee had made other offers for East School, including one in October that was rejected by the School Board. “He has presented a variety of plans,” McLaughlin said. Lee said in an email he would wait to talk about East School after the agreement is signed.. The school superintendent said the School Board decided it was time to sell the property rather than continue paying to maintain it. He said the building, which was last used by schoolchildren six years ago in the Gateway program, has been heated and maintained all this time. McLaughlin said the building was heated “to maintain its value for sale.” “We had to do what’s in the best interest of the district,” he said. “We can’t continue heating it. If we hadn’t, the floor would have buckled.” McLaughlin said he wasn’t sure of the exact date East School was last used as an elementary school, but estimated it was about 20 years ago. The school district put East School up for sale more than two years ago, and at one point almost sold it to Springfield Medical Care Systems, the parent company of Springfield Hospital. That purchase price was $100,000. But the hospital backed out of the deal and the School Board relisted the school for sale earlier this year. http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20151211/NEWS02/151219937 2015-12-12 / Front Page East Street School sold for $91K Allan Stein SPRINGFIELD — The long-vacant East School on Summer Street has been sold to a California property management company for $91,000. On Wednesday, the Springfield School Board voted to sign the purchase and sale contract for the former elementary school located at 199 Summer St. DAL Advisors LLC of Delaware, a subsidiary of DAL Advisors & Management of California, made the offer on the property for $91,000. The contract required an initial deposit and a 60-day period for the seller to "conduct inspections and due diligence," said Springfield School Superintendent Zachary McLaughlin. School Board Chairman Jeanice Garfield said negotiations for the sale of the building wiith DAL Advisors began in the fall. Board members also met with corporation president Darrell A. Lee as the talks continued. "It was something that the board felt was beneficial to the district. We are happy about that," Garfield said of the building's sale. According to town records provided by local historian Bunni Putnam, in March 1920, voters agreed to spend $75,000 to build the new six-room school on Summer Street, which would become known as the East School. In July 1920, a special vote was necessary to increase the appropriation to $95,000. Fifteen voters approved the decision to spend the additional $20,000. Four of the classrooms were ready for use in April 1920 and the school was completed for the fall opening. It was the town's third neighborhood school after the North School in North Springfield was built in 1907 at a cost of $10,000. The South School opened in 1916 for a total cost of $30,000. The East School is a two-story, 12,300-square-foot brick structure situated on two-and-a-half acres of land on Summer Street in a residential section of Springfield. It comes with 21 parking spaces. The building has steam heating. The school previously housed the Gateway Program for special education students. DAL Advisors is an affiliate of DAL Equity Advisors LLC and DAL Mortgage Advisors LLC of Delaware and DAL Advisors & Management of California. Lee said there are no definite plans yet for the reuse of the building. Town & Country Realty Associates, which listed the property for $150,000, said there are "many possibilities for reuse of this 1920s building, such as offices, or apartments."