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The former LaMendola Elementary School building in Huber Heights will not be converted into a private residential academy, the co-owner of Concept 1 Academy LLC said.
The sale of the property from Huber Heights City Schools to Concept 1 Academy is expected to close next month, but it is unclear what will happen now after months of controversy surrounding the company’s plans to turn it into a facility for 32 male students ages 16 to 18 years old.
The Huber Heights school board is scheduled to vote on a resolution Nov. 5 to amend the purchase agreement with Concept 1 Academy to include the purchase price for the 35,000-square-foot building.
Concept 1 Academy — a for-profit organization — won the bid in an auction Feb. 28 to acquire the property for $19,000 from Huber Heights City Schools. The school board approved the purchase agreement in March.
Concept 1 Academy co-owner Tari Darr said the company has ruled out the private residential academy idea, but other options are “on the planning board.” One of them is allowing church groups to utilize the building, she said.
“We’re working on our plans and moving forward,” Darr said. “The site is being maintained and we’re going to close on the building.”
No plans have been submitted to the city, Darr said.
Huber Heights assistant city manager Scott Falkowski confirmed that Concept 1 Academy has had “no correspondence with us regarding any potential use or anything about the building.”
What is approved for that site is an elementary school, and anything other than that would need to go through a major or minor change process, Falkowski said. It is zoned planned public and private buildings and grounds.
The 6.39-acre property, formerly LaMendola Elementary School, closed in 2011. The building housed the district’s nutrition services until the department moved into the new high school during the 2012-13 school year.
After the auction, the school district moved everything else out of LaMendola, which was built in 1971.
The two parties have been under contract, awaiting the city's decision on Concept 1 Academy's request to change the use of the property at 5363 Tilbury Road to a private residential academy.
But last month — just hours before Huber Heights City Council was expected to reject Concept 1 Academy's plan — the company filed a notice of withdrawal with the city. No reason was given by Concept 1 Academy as to why it withdrew its application.
Huber Heights Superintendent Sue Gunnell said pending board approval Nov. 5, the transfer of the deed will shortly follow.
As part of the agreement, the district gave Concept 1 Academy keys to the building to conduct any testing or surveying necessary. No physical work has been done to the building, Gunnell said.
From February of this year to date — during the time Concept 1 Academy has had access to LaMendola — the district has paid about $12,000 for utilities for the building, Gunnell said.
“It’s been a long process,” she said. “We knew they couldn’t control (the zoning) process. We were waiting as that process evolved.”
Gunnell has said if a private business occupied LaMendola, it would pay $166,000 a year in property taxes, with $104,000 going to the school district.
Resident Paul Bayne, who lives on Rosebury Drive, had been outspoken against Concept 1 Academy’s plan for a private residential academy. He said he doesn’t have a problem if church groups use the building.
“I’m glad the school’s not going to be there,” Bayne said. “It might have been a good idea, but being in a residential area and neighbors surrounding the school and the unknown, I’m glad she didn’t get it.”
In late July, the city's Planning Commission denied Concept 1 Academy's request after several residents expressed concerns about the proposed facility.
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