Trenton Public Schools last month announced that it has sold the former Owen Elementary School property for $225,000 to a home-building company.
Jefferson Place LLC is tentatively planning to put 26 single family dwellings on the property. A majority of the homes are slated to be two story homes with a few single level homes. Expected size ranges from approximately 1,600 to 2,200 square feet.
The construction timeline for the Owen property is anticipated to parallel the improvements being made at the two elementary buildings. The two elementary bond projects will be starting in April of 2019 and be completed by September of 2020.
Superintendent Rodney Wakeham said the School District is excited by this transaction, which has been in the works since September, when Jefferson Place approached the district with an unsolicited letter expressing its desire to buy the property.
“The recent bond passed in May of 2018 will help expand our two elementary buildings and make needed improvements at the middle school and high school,” Wakeham said. “Twenty-six new homes with a modern floor plan will help attract families to our community, increase the tax base for the City of Trenton, and keep our school building populations at levels to maintain our academic programs.”
School districts in Michigan are paid by the pupil. An estimated 35-40 students from the new homes would mean an additional $300,000-$325,000 annual revenue from the State of Michigan to Trenton Public Schools.
In the 1970s Trenton was a growing bedroom community that needed nine school buildings to support more than 6,500 students. The district had six neighborhood elementary buildings, two middle schools and a high school. As the community aged the people stayed and the school population began to dwindle. The Trenton Board of Education throughout the past four decades has made the difficult decision to right size the district and has closed buildings.
One of those decisions came in 2006 with the closing of Owen Elementary School. Due to its size, proximity to other elementary buildings, and projected cost of renovations, it was selected as the one of the four remaining elementary buildings to be closed.
The building and foundation was demolished starting in February of 2007 and the land put up for sale. The land initially sold to a developer for residential homes. Difficult times in the Michigan economy stagnated housing developments across the state and the property reverted back to the school district. The district did put the property up for bid sale again in 2015 but did not receive any viable bids as the economy struggled to recover.
