With
Dominion out, district seeks new buyer for land
School officials in contact with developers that bid on 16.8-acre plot,
hope for sale by June 30
Worthington City Schools Treasurer
Jonathan Boyd is conducting "dialogues" with several developers who
may be interested in purchasing the parcel of district land recently passed up
by Dominion Homes.
"We are dialoguing
with the developers who bid for the land at the auction to see which ones might
be interested in submitting bids," Boyd said. "We are not required to
have another auction, but we know who the bidders were and where they stopped
on their initial bids, and we have made contact with some of the upper bidders."
Dominion reneged on the
land deal after submitting the highest bid of $2,645,000 at an auction in June.
The developer gave the district a $50,000 deposit for the 16.8 acres of land at
the corner of Park and
In a statement made last
week, Tom Hart of Dominion Homes cited a "slow real-estate market" as
one of the reasons the developer pulled out of the deal.
The land was appraised a
few years ago at $1.4 million, Boyd said.
The second-highest bidder
at the auction was
Other developers who bid for
the land at the auction were Triangle,
Boyd said he is confident
another developer will purchase the land.
"It is a valuable
piece of land," Boyd said. "Our goal is to close on another deal
before the end of the next fiscal year, which would be June 30."
Board of Education
President Gary Tyack said Dominion's pullout could put some pressure on the
district.
"Any time you lose
$2.7 million, it will have an impact," Tyack said. "It also increases
the pressure to go on the ballot this year."
Board members are asking
the community to attend a levy workshop session at
"We are discussing the
land situation with the developers who bid at the auction before, who in theory were the people willing to pay for this
property, but we could also take bids from other developers who are
interested," Tyack said.
Board Vice President Bob
Horton said he had been surprised by Dominion's high bid on the property.
"To me, it seemed
unlikely they would go that far out on a limb with such a high price for the
property," Horton said. "And personally, I think the kind of
high-density housing they intended on the property could have put more of a
burden on people who live in the area, on roads and evening travel."
Horton said he did not
think the land deal falling through would greatly affect the five-year
financial forecast for the district.
"The input of $2.6
million is not that large of an amount in our budget, plus we still expect the
land will sell in the next six months," Horton said