Change of plans: Butler Middle School sale awarded to second highest bidder, to become condominiums
The former Butler Middle School will be sold to a real-estate developer, who plans to convert the space into condominiums, along with retail and salon suites, following a Wednesday, April 2, hearing appealing the sale.
Sumner McDanel, the second-highest bidder in the March 6 sale, was awarded the sale for $450,000, to be closed within 35 days, after the highest bidder withdrew his offer.
“I’ve never bought a building that looks this nice,” McDanel said.
He plans to convert the building’s perimeter into condominiums with the retail and salon suites inside. He said the concrete floors and walls lend themselves well to housing by blocking out noise between rooms. He also aims to repurpose the building’s auditorium to utilize the theater.
“We really didn’t know what was going to happen,” McDanel said about the result of the hearing.
The sale was initially approved by Judge Kelley Streib at the March 6 hearing for Pittsburgh self-storage developer Steve Mitnick at $475,000. The sale was approved contingent upon Mitnick obtaining zoning approval from Butler to convert the historic school building into storage units and salon suites.
Mitnick ultimately withdrew his bid, and the parties vacated the March 6 agreement, according to McDanel’s attorney, Jennifer Gilliland Vanasdale.
Mitnick said, after the hearing, his team understood the chance of getting the zoning law changed to allow for self-storage facilities was “extremely unlikely,” and they did not want to hold up the sale any longer.
He said he got an early indication the Planning and Zoning Commission was not in favor of his proposed use, so it would be unlikely to get the zoning law changed.
The Butler Middle School building is zoned as R-3, in a high-density residential area.
In the hearing before Judge William Shaffer, Vanasdale argued the school board approved sale conditions at its Nov. 4 meeting that said the purchaser must accept the property as is or terminate the purchase within 30 days, which contradicts the 120-day window Streib gave Mitnick to petition the Planning and Zoning Commission to allow for self-storage in the zoning law.
She also argued the delay in the sale to Mitnick would cost the district an extra $46,575 in utilities, which puts his bid below McDanel’s.
