Friday, September 03, 1999
Thriftway store may take over school site
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
OXFORD — A new Thriftway superstore could be built on the site of Stewart Elementary School, which has been tentatively sold by the Talawanda school district.
Thriftway's Don Northcutt was the only bidder in a crowd of 25 Wednesday when officials opened an auction for the 70-year-old school and the 6.5 acres it sits on.
Mr. Northcutt offered the minimum bid of $1.5 million, earning the right to buy a $5,000 option on the site at the offered price.
Formal acceptance of the bid by the Talawanda Board of Education is scheduled for the board's Sept. 20 meeting, said James Rowan, Talawanda treasurer.
Final details of the agreement are being discussed between district leaders and Thriftway, Mr. Rowan said.
“All of this is contingent upon passing the levy at the ballot,” Mr. Rowan said. “We think it's good for the community. People have been asking for an additional grocery store for a long time.”
The school board has placed a combination issue on the Nov. 2 ballot, and if voters approve it, a plan would be set in motion that would end with the sale of Stewart.
It includes $34 million for construction of a high school and improvements to school buildings, along with a 0.75 percent income tax to pay for salary increases for teachers and day-to-day operations. Voters will be asked to decide both issues in a single ballot question.
Passage of the issue would allow for construction of a new high school. Once that school opened, the existing high school would close for a year and undergo renovations. It would reopen as an elementary. Then the district would redraw attendance lines for elementary schools and close Stewart. At that time, the building would be sold to Thriftway.
“It's been several years that they've been trying to find a site in town for a store,” said Tim Myers, owner and broker of Coldwell Banker West Shell's Oxford office. “That site is in a central location — almost the exact geographic center of Oxford. It has adequate ingress and egress and it's on the bus route so Miami University students can also get there.”
The school site is zoned multifamily and would have to be changed to commercial. Preliminary talks on a zoning change have begun with city leaders, Coldwell Banker associate George Luechauer said.
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