Northwest Youth Corps - Youth Corps Buys

In a deal struck this week, the youth education program has agreed to pay the Eugene School District $655,000 for Laurel Hill Elementary School, which it has been leasing since 1998. The Eugene School Board is expected to approve the sale on Aug. 27.

Art Pope, executive director for Northwest Youth Corps, said the building has met the organization's needs well. The organization runs after-school and summer programs, as well as the OutDoor High School, a private alternative program.

''It's a very good location for us, and the valley community has been really wonderful and supportive of our program,'' Pope said.

The 28,880-square-foot building went on the market in May, with an asking price of $825,000, said commercial real estate agent Sue Prichard, with whom the district has been consulting on uses for its surplus properties.

''We knew that we were stretching a bit there, but we didn't know how big the market was,'' Prichard said. ''It is a very small market.''

As with any transaction, the district had to consider the price, the market and the contingencies, Prichard said.

''This was sort of a perfect situation in my opinion,'' she said. ''The neighborhood respects them and accepts them with open arms. I think all parties ended up feeling like this is a fair deal.''

Prichard said the only ''comparable'' she could find was the Easter Seals building at 3575 Donald St., which recently sold for about $600,000. The Easter Seals building and site are smaller, she said but it's in a more desirable neighborhood.

Hillary Kittleson, the district's finance director, said the school board voiced approval for the sale price in a recent nonpublic session.

''We're very pleased that we were able to sell to Northwest Youth Corps,'' she said. ''We believe it fits in with the neighborhood and the neighborhood's desires in that it's an agency serving young people.''

Laurel Hill Elementary, at 2621 Augusta St., was built in 1954, a time when district enrollment was booming. The school closed along with several more in 1982, and has been leased ever since.

As a condition of the sale, Northwest Youth Corps has asked that the district remove an old underground diesel oil tank - a job that would likely run about $7,500 without complications, said Jon Lauch, assistant facilities director.

Pope said the purchase will be a stretch for the organization, particularly given some of the building's repair needs.

''The building has several decades of deferred maintenance,'' he said, citing its lack of insulation, creaky heating system and aging roof as examples.

Laurel Hill Valley Citizens, the local neighborhood association, opposed the sale of the school, believing it ought to stay in district hands should the need ever arise for a neighborhood school. But the group has said selling to Northwest Youth Corps would be. its second choice.

Other closed elementary schools that have been listed as surplus include Whiteaker, Dunn, Bailey Hill and Santa Clara. Westmoreland and Willakenzie, which will close after new schools are built in 2004, will also make that list. The school board will hold a public hearing on the sale of Westmoreland at its 7 p.m. meeting on Aug. 27.

Courtesy of The Register Guard, Eugene-Oregon

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