Although the Butler School District in March rejected a proposal from J.M. Beatty Furniture to buy Broad Street Elementary School, the business still is involved in talks with the city and the district over the property.

The company’s offer of $400,000 was its last offer, J.M. Beatty Furniture representative Blaine Duffee told the board in March. That was rejected by a 5-4 vote, and the board believed it had lost the potential sale.

However, Chad Beatty, owner of the company, has said he still is interested in the school, having recent talks with both the school district and the city about a solution that makes all parties happy, he said.

The biggest issue is the playground at the school, which residents previously had highlighted as something they wanted to keep.

“The playground’s been the main issue,” Beatty said Tuesday. “Everybody’s trying to work together to make this work somehow.”

Beatty’s first offer for Broad Street was $530,000, but that was under a plan in which the company would remove the playground for more parking, Beatty said. Based on the building’s size, it needs 50 parking spaces but has only 19 now.

The second offer of $400,000 would have leased the playground to the city for $1 each year, he said. But the city was not interested in a lease, according to Beatty.

However, Beatty is concerned that the city does not have the money to buy the property or to maintain the playground, let alone install a fence around it, he said.

“The city doesn’t have any money to buy a fence to deed the property. How are they going to keep playground updated, keep it safe?” Beatty said. “We just want to make sure the playground stays but that it’s safe.”

Mayor Tom Donaldson on Tuesday declined to comment on the matter.

Beatty estimated that the playground takes up roughly half of the land being sold, meaning not much other space would allow for additional parking. Because of that, he said that $400,000 is a fair offer.

Broad Street’s average appraised market value is $456,500.

Beatty’s company has been in business for 102 years and has a location at a former Moniteau School District building in Eau Claire. Beatty said it has 16 to 18 employees.

Superintendent Dale Lumley and district solicitor Tom King told the board Monday night that the district has not received another formal offer from Beatty, but they met with both Beatty and Donaldson about two weeks ago.

“We left the mayor’s office very optimistic that we might be close to something that the board could support,” King said. “I think the ball is in Mr. Beatty’s court as to what he will do or won’t do or wants to do.”

According to board member Suzie Bradrick, listing the property for sale cannot hurt, she told the board Monday night. She wants to find buyers who may not be in the immediate Butler County area but are looking to expand, and she said a Realtor or a formal listing could better market the building and draw in more interest.

“We’ve never actually marketed this building,” she said. “There potentially could be a million buyers out there, and they just don’t know it exists.

“I don’t think we’re going to lose anybody ... If (Beatty is) serious, then putting it on the market will move him to be more serious. If he’s not serious, then he’s just playing games with us. I’m not going to wait around.”

The sale listing idea was briefly discussed Monday night. Bradrick said she make a motion to vote on that at the next board meeting.

Beatty would not comment on if his company would submit another formal proposal or how much the offer might be.

Beatty said he is looking into other properties in addition to the Broad Street space.

He confirmed that the company has looked into the Middlesex Elementary School, owned by the Mars School District that was closed in 2003-04. The building has been used for administrative purposes and special education services departments.

Beatty would not comment further on the company’s interest in the Middlesex school.

As for the closed Oakland Elementary School in the Butler district, an offer for the building from Monty Edgar for $363,600 expired at the end of April, according to Lumley. The board had previously rejected a sales agreement with Edgar in March by a 6 to 3 vote. Oakland has an average appraised market value of $362,500.

According to board President Nina Teff, the decision to sell Oakland or retain it for possible use later has not been fully discussed by the board.

As for the sales agreements for Meridian and Clearfield elementary schools, the district has two court hearings at 1 p.m. on June 2 before Butler County Court Judge S. Michael Yeager. The board approved a sales agreement for Meridian to Michael Wright of 70E Solutions for $425,000 and for Clearfield to Brendan Carroll CNC Malt for $235,000.

The average appraised value for Meridian and Clearfield are $530,000 and $236,000, respectively.

The board’s next meeting is 7:30 p.m. Monday.