Freeport schools sold
FREEPORT — The former Freeport Junior High School and Freeport Kindergarten Center buildings have been sold to an Armstrong County developer with plans to turn them into medical office and day care space and housing.
The Freeport School Board voted Tuesday night to approve the buildings' sale to Ronald Mailki, said board President Dan Lucovich.
It was the culmination of a months-long process that began when Mailki, an industrial and commercial developer, came to board members with an offer Lucovich called “the best opportunity we could ever hope for.”
The district is constructing a new middle school in Buffalo Township and has vacated the two borough buildings.
The buildings, which were appraised at $164,000, were sold to Mailki for $175,000. The properties had been designated a Keystone Opportunity Zone, a program that allows school districts, counties and municipalities to offer tax breaks to developers.
Mailki said he plans to convert the former kindergarten center into a day care center and also carve out space in the building for professional or medical offices.
At the former junior high, Mailki plans to keep the auditorium, gym and cafeteria available as rental spaces, turn several classrooms into training rooms for rent, and eventually convert about half of the building into “upper end” townhouses.
Pennsylvania's public school code requires that the sale be approved by Armstrong County Common Pleas Court, and there was no immediate indication of how long that would take.
But Mailki said Freeport residents can expect to see work on the structures begin as soon as it's legally allowed. He plans to start bringing the buildings into compliance with code standards immediately following court approval.
“I'm looking at a project completion date of two years,” Mailki said of the construction timeline he's working with.
In characterizing the deal, Lucovich said board members had expected to be able to find a buyer for the kindergarten center, but not for the junior high building.
The district had pegged the cost of tearing the junior high building down next year at about $400,000.“I think keeping kids in Freeport ... that's a great opportunity for that building, and it brings people in and out of town,” Lucovich said.One ongoing negotiation over the properties concerns kindergarten playground equipment installed about five years ago. Parent-Teacher Organization members raised $50,000 for the equipment, and Mailki said he's negotiating with the organization to keep the equipment on-site.“I think these projects are going to benefit the community quite a bit,” Mailki said. “I want to keep everybody positive.”Lucovich said it is possible that the equipment could be moved, but that the proposition would likely prove “pretty costly.”“Leaving it in place allows people in Freeport to use that so it's still an asset to the community,” he said.The junior high was built in 1923, and was the district's high school until 1961, when the current high school was built in Buffalo Township.The kindergarten building, which was an elementary school before being converted, was built in 1954.
