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Communities Sell School Buildings on EBay

Sat Nov 22, 1:37 PM ETAdd Technology - AP to My Yahoo!

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press Writer

KANSAS CITY , Mo. - The La Crosse School District in western Kansas

tried to give away its former middle school to more than 40

charities. There were no takers.

So school board members — somewhat reluctantly — turned to the

Internet auction site eBay. The board set a target price of $5,000

for the 43,000-square-foot building in the tiny town of McCracken ,

population about 200.

And then something unexpected happened. Between 22,000 and 23,000

people clicked on the eBay listing, and interested buyers traveled

to the farming community from as far away as Louisiana and Wisconsin

to tour the building.

On Thursday, the school board agreed to sell the former school for

$49,500 to a Phoenix-based business that plans to relocate to

McCracken and use the building as a warehouse distribution center.

The school district is one of at least four entities in Kansas to

sell or post schools on eBay in recent months — sometimes in a last

ditch effort to unload the properties.

"I didn't know what to expect," said La Crosse Superintendent Larry

Jackson . "It really showed the power of the Internet. We had 70 plus

bids."

Old schools, particularly those in small towns, can be difficult to

sell because they often must undergo extensive renovations before

they can be used for another purpose. Some are torn down, while

others fall into disrepair.

But online, schools and cities can market to a broader audience,

giving communities the chance to turn a former liability into a

source of economic development.

"A school house, being a little bit more unusual type of

real-estate, makes sense for eBay," said Chris Donlay, a spokesman

for eBay. "If you advertised locally, you would only hit a few

thousand people."

The city of Gaylord is credited with being the first in Kansas to

sell a school using eBay.

The Smith Center School District sold the building to the city when

the former school closed in the early 1990s because of a declining

student population, said Jim Muck, a council member in the western

Kansas town. The city initially used the building for storage, and

then rented out portions. But renting out space put the building

back on the tax rolls and there weren't enough renters to cover the

cost of the taxes, Muck said.

In the late 1990s, the city council was considering tearing down the

building to get rid of the liability. But Muck said contractors

wanted at least $100,000 to raze the building.

The city couldn't afford the expense, so nothing happened for

several years.

Eventually, Muck persuaded the council to attempt to sell the

building on eBay. "I had one of them tell me, 'You're wasting your

time,'" Muck said.

Within a couple hours of posting the school on the Internet site in

late August, Muck said he received his first phone call from an

interested buyer.

"I was flabbergasted because I didn't think we'd get a response that

quickly," Muck said.

The building was sold for $25,000 to a Seattle couple who are

relocating their Internet-based business producing music sound

boards to the community.

Since then, Muck and the town's mayor have taken several calls from

communities both in Kansas and Nebraska interested in selling their

schools on the Internet.

Currently, the Morland Community Foundation and the city of Paradise

have schools for sale on eBay.

information contained in the AP News report may not be published,

broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority

of The Associated Press.

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