A proposal has come in to purchase the heritage Mountain View Elementary school building, but officials aren’t providing any details yet.
“I honestly can’t. I wish I could, but I really can’t,” said Mike Hooker, the superintendent of the Revelstoke School District. “The process really requires that we respect not so much the privacy but the process itself to make sure the right people are hearing the right information at the right time.”
The district issued a request for proposals in order to get bids on the old building earlier this year. The RFP closed on June 15 and school trustees and district staff met on Thursday, June 23, to go over the response.
On Tuesday, Hooker confirmed with the Review that the Board of Education had approved moving forward with a proposal. They are now negotiating with the proponent on the sale and working with the proponent and the City of Revelstoke on a development application.
“What we’re doing is we’re going as quickly as we can,” said Hooker. “It’s getting our full attention and at this point I believe it’s getting really great attention at the city level too.”
The heritage portion of Mountain View Elementary was built in 1914 and was slowly added to. The school closed down in 2012 and the school district has been looking for takers for the building and site ever since.
The district sought developers for the entire site in 2014 and again in 2015, but didn’t get any valid bids. This time, they only sought proposals for the school building.
The proposal is only for the school building and the five city lots it sits on.
While the community has been unanimous on preserving the old building, opinions differ on what to do with the rest of the site. The school district proposed dividing it up into single-family lots, while the city is seeking medium-density development on the property.