Hammondsport accepts $50K purchase offer

HAMMONDSPORT—The Hammondsport Central School District board of education approved a $50,000 purchase offer for the former Glenn H. Curtiss memorial school from developer Jim Keena, Friday, Nov. 15.
There have been three previous purchase offers that fell through since the former Curtiss school was put on the market in the 2010-11 school year. Keena, a Washington D.C. based developer, had previously made a purchase offer in 2011, proposing to turn the building into apartments. At the time, the board accepted the one other offer from Simon Sananas, which was pulled.
Hammondsport Superintendent Kyle Bower said the board received two offers this time. The second was from Arbor Development and the Krog Corporation for $175,000. However, Bower said the board went with the lower offer because there were no contingencies attached.
He explained the Arbor/Krog offer included a 90 due diligence period allowing the purchaser to cancel without any reason. Bower added the district expects the sale to close before Jan. 1, 2014. This time includes the 30 day period, started Nov. 15, for district residents to start a petition if they are against the sale. The very first purchase offer of the school to the town of Urbana was overturned by a petition and vote by residents.
Keena said his plans are similar to those when he previously offered to purchase the building. He explained he wants to turn the former school into apartments, with the possibility of using the first floor space for offices. However, Keena said he doesn’t have definite plans yet because the sale was just approved by the board.
Previous sale offers have been: $300,000 from Urbana, $301,000 from Sananas, and $302,000 most recently from Robert Lack. Bower explained the district learned the building needed work during the previous purchase offer which would affect the sale price. He said if the district were to fix the building for use as a school again, it would cost an estimated half a million dollars. Bower added this includes the roof, septic system, and asbestos issues.