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The Memphis-Shelby County school board approved the sale of four district properties on Tuesday, bringing in about $12 million and offloading some maintenance costs as deferred maintenance issues continue to plague the district.
A Memphis-based industrial real estate group will purchase the Gray’s Creek Administrative campus from the district for $9 million.
Board documents indicate the campus is far away from most district schools and the administrative staff has been moved to closer offices. Without the sale, the district would have to shoulder more than $13 million in maintenance costs over the next decade.
The board also approved the sale of two former school sites, Riverview Elementary School and Wooddale Middle School, to charter school tenants that have leased the properties for several years. Wooddale will sell to IOTA Community Schools for $2.5 million, while Riverview will sell to Vision Prep for $700,000. Greater New Liberty Baptist Church is purchasing land on the vacant Raineshaven Elementary School campus for $105,000.
The district is facing more than $1 billion worth of deteriorating infrastructure issues after years of deferred maintenance, according to a facilities report released this spring.
The board has requested a comprehensive facilities plan by September that is expected to be spearheaded by interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond and may include recommendations from a new ad-hoc community board.
“We want to include all stakeholders so everyone can feel they have input in how we move forward to rightsize the district,” Richmond said.
However, the district faces a tight timeline to deliver an early fall plan, as there are still at least 5 vacant spots on the committee, which was officially approved on Tuesday night, and no meetings have been scheduled.
The committee includes Tennessee lawmakers, local community development leaders, and other city stakeholders, but the board is awaiting a member recommendation from Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and still needs to fill some student and parent representative appointments.
Board member Natalie McKinney, who will co-chair the committee, said she planned to meet with the superintendent this week to determine a timeline for meetings.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org
