The sale of the former D.A. Gordon Public School in Wallaceburg is not in jeopardy.
Brian McKay, business superintendent for the Lambton-Kent District School Board, confirmed with the Sydenham Current what Rick Strain said on Monday: that the closing date on the sale has been extended.
“The property sale was suppose to close of August 25th and we did receive notice asking for an extension on the closing date,” McKay said.
“Working with the director of education as well as the board, we are looking at an extension to the closing date to October 30th. We wanted to work together with this purchaser to try and get the property into the purchaser’s hands. So we continue to work with them and that’s why the extension.”
McKay said Jim Costello, the director of education, and himself are still looking at the D.A. Gordon sale with optimism.
“Both Jim and I continue to be optimistic on the future of the property and I really think that’s why we all want to work with the purchaser,” he said. “We sense a vision and a good use for the property through the purchaser, which was definitely one of the factors when we looked at granting the extension.”
McKay said when finalizing these type of deals it is not uncommon for delays to occur.
“In my experience with types of purchases such as this, sometimes with the closing date, the other party is trying to finalize everything… finances and their terms on their end and sometimes, in my experience, it just doesn’t come together as neatly as the purchaser would like,” he said.
“So that’s why they would typically ask for the extension. That is what we are seeing in this case. Nothing that would put the deal in jeopardy, just asking for an extension on the terms.”
McKay said the extension will have little to no impact on the LKDSB budget.
“The impact on the budget would be very minor,” he said. “Obviously, for the additional two months we will want to make sure that the grass is cut and the property is tidy. We will still be doing our normal inspections but we are not expecting anything major from the maintenance standpoint.”
Reports say the building and property were sold for $200,000 to a buyer from Toronto.
We’ll provide more information when it becomes available.
