New buyers emerge for these 2 former Columbus schools after past deals failed to close
The properties containing the sites of two former Columbus schools will be sold for redevelopment if the Muscogee County School District board approves the superintendent’s recommendations next week.
The board is scheduled to vote May 16 on selling:
- The former Rose Hill School to Peak Partners for $375,000. The 1.8 acres, at 433 21st St., includes a 132-year-old building covering 25,547 square feet on three floors (two stories and a basement).
- The former 30th Avenue Elementary School to Happy Valley Day Facility for $250,000. The 4.76 acres, at 151 30th Ave., includes a 62-year-old building covering 17,480 square feet on one floor.
MCSD previously agreed to sell these properties to other prospective buyers — twice — but the deals never closed.
Rose Hill School
This would be the third time MCSD has agreed to sell the Rose Hill property in the past five years.
A limited partnership called Rose Hill Redevelopment, led by principal partner Celadon Holdings of Chicago, agreed to buy the property for $535,000 in 2017. Then in 2020, Oracle Consulting Services of Louisville, Kentucky, agreed to buy the property for $350,000.
Like the two previous prospective buyers, Peak Partners of Atlanta plans to develop apartments on the Rose Hill property, but they would be market-rate units instead of subsidized housing, real estate agent Carson Cummings of Coldwell Banker Commercial told the Ledger-Enquirer.
The former Rose Hill School building would be renovated into loft-style apartments, and the property has room for “an additional building or two” to offer more units, Cummings said.
The L-E didn’t reach an official with Peak Partners before publication.
Rose Hill was constructed as an elementary school. The building most recently was used as the alternative education program for students with severe violations of the district’s behavior code. That program now is housed in the Marshall Success Center.
30th Avenue School
The 30th Avenue property most recently was used for preschool education. This would be the third time MCSD has agreed to sell it in the past four years.
In 2018, Children of Higher Expectations Academy, a daycare and after-school program provider, agreed to buy the property for $290,000. In 2020, Georgia-Cumberland Association of Seventh-Day Adventists, based in Calhoun, agreed to buy the property for $112,350 and planned to use it as a church and a community service center.
Coldwell Banker Commercial real estate agent Jeanne Hasty declined to comment on the proposed sale of the 30th Avenue property. The L-E didn’t reach an official with Happy Valley Day Facility before publication.
According to its website, Happy Valley Day Facility is an adult day care center headquartered in Columbus with locations at 3301 13th Ave. and 600 Second Ave.
Last year, Happy Valley Day Facility bought another surplus MCSD property, the former Woodall Center, 4312 Harrison Ave., for $145,000. The 2.65 acres is the site of the demolished building that was Harrison Avenue Elementary School before it became the Woodall Center for special education. The Woodall Center now is at 1822 Shepherd Drive.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 10:48 AM.
