mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM -- The Durham school board unanimously approved a $543,000 purchase price Thursday night for land that will accommodate a future Lowe's Grove elementary school.
The 5-0 vote followed a 25-minute closed session at which the purchase and personnel moves were discussed.
The district is acquiring 6.79 acres at 1822 and 1824 Jester Road to expand available land for a future school. The district currently has 8.5 acres at the site.
The purchase price is about $80,000 per acre. The current owner is Triangle Life Science.
As yet there is no funding stream for the new school and consequently no time frame for starting to build it.
"Because land is so expensive, what we try to do is bank land," school board member Stephen Martin said after Thursday's meeting.
"We have to do that sometimes six and eight years in advance."
Both parcels, which are vacant industrial sites, are assessed at a total value of about $448,000, according to county tax records. Tax assessments are not necessarily indicative of market value, and the approved purchase price is contingent upon a new assessment.
County commissioners must approve the purchase before it goes through. The funding source for it is "two-thirds bonds," or previously issued county bonds that have been purchased back from debt holders.
The new South Regional Library is being built adjacent to the future school site, which is also near a planned State Employees' Credit Union branch.
