The Parks Township building that formerly housed Laurel Point Elementary will be redeveloped for business use.
The Kiski Area School Board, which voted in May to close the school, approved the sale of the building Monday for $84,000 to Moret Construction Co. of Lower Burrell.
According to district Business Manager Peggy Gillespie, the construction company has expressed a wide variety of potential plans for the building, including its conversion to office space, a storage facility or a retirement community.
An after-hours phone call to Moret's office in Lower Burrell went unanswered.
The district received three bids between mid-September and early October for the one-story building and its 4.8 acres along Airport Road.
Board President Keith Blayden said officials were satisfied enough with Moret's bid to move forward with the sale without testing the market through a public auction or commercial Realtor, as was the district's backup plan.
“We're very pleased to sell the building to a viable local business,” Blayden said. “We're very confident that the property will contribute greatly to the district's tax base.”
On Saturday, the district auctioned off the surplus equipment left in the shuttered school. Everything from large kitchen appliances, to lockers, desks and chairs yielded about $11,000 for the district, according to Gillespie.
That's in addition to the $23,000 the district earned through a similar auction earlier this month at the shuttered Washington Elementary School in Washington Township.
Laurel Point and Washington Elementary were closed as part of a reconfiguration of Kiski Area elementary schools that was put in motion about four years ago.
The money earned in the auctions will help offset about $25,000 in change orders the board approved Monday for the installation of two artificial turf fields.
Superintendent John Meighan said the district decided to add $20,000 to project specifications for turf surfaces composed of sand and rubber. Original specifications called for surfaces that contained only rubber.
“That decision was based off of further research,” Meighan said. “We decided it would be more beneficial for the district in the long run to go with the rubber-sand mix.”
The district will pay an additional $5,000 for the installation contractor to fix several large holes found during the excavation of the fields. Blayden said the work will not slow down the installation, which is still scheduled for completion before Thanksgiving.
The new turf will cover the field behind the high school and one of the soccer fields by the intermediate school.
About $200,000 of the project's cost is covered by an NFL Foundation grant the district was awarded in August. The district will incur the roughly $1 million in remaining costs.
The majority of that expense will be covered with money left in the district's 2010 construction fund, which was established through a $30 million bond issue for the renovation of three elementary schools.
Supplemental contracts
Dave Voytek, a Kiski Area teacher who has volunteered with the high school wrestling team, was appointed Monday to serve as the district's assistant athletic director. He replaces Jack Jewart, who retired from the district last year.
Voytek also will serve as the district's faculty manager. He will paid about $7,000 total to serve both positions.
The board also approved supplemental contracts for Jaci Kubinec and Anna Eichner to step in as assistant varsity softball coaches. Kubinec and Eichner, both teachers, will be paid $4,500 for their services.
Kubinec formerly served as the team's head coach.
The district also approved $2,000 for Melissa Morner to coach the junior high softball team.
Braden Ashe is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-226-4673 or bashe@tribweb.com.
