District 26 Board approves sale of long-vacant Maplewood Elementary

Cary School District 26 has made multiple attempts over the years to sell Maplewood Elementary School, which closed its doors in 2010 because of declining enrollment and high costs of maintaining the facility.

Attempts were made to turn the property at 422 W. Krenz Ave. into residential space, and at one point, the village of Cary considered buying the site.

But on Monday, the District 26 board agreed to sell the property to a Barrington-based developer for just more than $2.5 million.

Although previous attempts to sell the property have failed, recent developer interest and a somewhat improved real-estate market have provided a favorable climate for the board to sell the property, according to district documents.

In June, the board unanimously approved the sale of the Maplewood School property via sealed bid with a minimum purchase price of $2.5 million. Several days later, a bidder’s information packet was made available at the district office and online.

One sealed bid was received by Central One LLC, which tried to buy the property last year, for $2,500,250.

After the bid was fully vetted by district administration and the district’s attorney, it was approved without opposition during Monday’s board meeting. Board member Brian Hauck was absent.

Built in 1929, the 42,000-square-foot facility was one of the district’s oldest. It sits on 15.6 acres and has a transportation maintenance garage and bus parking lot on-site. The district pays about $65,000 annually to maintain the facility, district officials have said.

The developer had proposed to build dense housing at the site featuring 200 multifamily units and 69 townhouses, according to a revised proposal presented late last year.