The Lawrence school board made official a previous commitment to buy two structures near the Lawrence Holidome for a warehouse and administrative offices.
A divided Lawrence school board Monday decided to spend $4.1 million to buy two buildings that will become the district's central warehouse and administration headquarters.
The 4-3 vote confirmed a deal struck early this year to acquire the property formerly occupied by Sallie Mae at 110 McDonald Drive.
"I have never been convinced that this has been the best purchase," said board member Scott Morgan.
On the other hand, board member Austin Turney said the new property would provide vastly improved work areas for district employees and real warehouse space for the first time.
"I thought that was a tremendous step forward," Turney said.
The official closing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday.
District staff and equipment is expected to begin arriving at the new location in November.
The district already paid $283,000 in earnest money and other fees. The $3.8 million balance for owners of the property, Star Group LLC will come from $2.85 million generated by issuing bonds and $967,000 from the district's capital outlay fund.
The capital outlay budget is to be replenished after the sale of the old India School on 23rd Street and the district's administration building on Clinton Parkway for an estimated $1.8 million.
The motion offered by Leni Salkind and amended by Turney affirmed the board's intent to sell both properties. There has been concern about a pending India School deal with developer Duane Schwada, but the district's business officer said it was still intact.
"All the wheels are in motion for him to complete purchase of the property," said Jim Freeman, executive director of business.
Morgan and board colleagues Jack Davidson and Sue Morgan dissented. Each argued from different perspectives that the deal didn't make complete sense.
Scott Morgan said it would be too expensive to back out of the contract, so the district ought to go ahead with the purchase of 110 McDonald Drive and then put it on the market.
Davidson said the appalling condition of India School and other district sites justified acquisition of new facilities. He's not convinced the central administration ought to move into a new headquarters.
"I believe we need to go back and consider carefully the idea of selling this property we're sitting in," he said.
Sue Morgan said there were no hard numbers that centralizing operations at the new building contained office and warehouse space to meet the district's needs.
The administration's goal is to relocate all administrators from the service center on Clinton Parkway; all printing equipment, paper, warehousing materials and food service out of India School; all instructional materials from a structure at 1919 Del.; personnel located in the LHS annex; special education resources in the basement of Cordley School; and reading and math materials at New York School.
Voters in the school district approved a $16.6 million bond issue in November 1998 that contained $2.85 million for a storage, warehouse and maintenance facility. No mention was made in the bond issue about a new building for the district's central administration.
After the bond vote, district officials revealed plans to buy the 110 McDonald Drive property for $4.1 million. It could cost $150,000 to prepare for occupancy. The district's maintenance facility will remain at 146 Maine.
-- Tim Carpenter's phone message number is 832-7155. His e-mail address is tim@ljworld.com.
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