Franklin school sells for $415K

Bethany Wesleyan Church has a new home in Franklin Township after securing the former Franklin Elementary School property for $415,000 at a public auction Monday afternoon.

The purchase price started at $400,000 and the auction ended after Christian Scheuermann, owner of CTS Properties in Easton and the only other bidder for the property, declined to increase the total to $417,500.

Ken Everett, business administrator for the church, said public comment on the auction or plans for the property, located at 1122 Fairyland Road, would only be discussed after the district’s school board ratified the sale Monday night.

Bethany Wesleyan Church began renting space in Lehighton Area Middle School in 2018 for Sunday services. At the time, district officials called it a “win-win” and estimated it would bring in over $30,000 per year in income.

Franklin is the final of four elementary schools to be sold at auction after Lehighton opened a new K-5 school for all of its elementary students before the 2018-19 school year.

Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said the sale takes another property off the district’s books and saves the taxpayers from having to fund an unused building.

“From July 2018 to April 19, the district spent almost $40,000 in water, sewer, electric, etc., while the building was sitting there idle,” Cleaver said. “That figure doesn’t include the mowing service. Those are expenses that are now no longer the responsibility of the district.”

Before the sale, the Franklin property was subdivided with 11.8 acres going to Franklin Township. That land includes four baseball and softball fields used by the Franklin Township Athletic Association.

“This sale includes the school building and the soccer field above it,” Lehighton solicitor William Schwab said before Monday’s auction.

Dave Bradley voted to approve the sale Monday, but told the board he thought the district could have gotten more money had it given the property more curb appeal.

“If we took a little more time there instead of leaving garbage and crap all over, we may have done better than giving it away for pennies on the dollar,” Bradley said.

Commercial real estate appraiser Frank Gownley appraised the property at $759,000 before it was subdivided.

“I think the church got a great deal based on that,” Bradley said.

Board President Larry Stern called appraisals, “wishful numbers.”

“You only get what someone is willing to pay for it and right now we have someone willing to take this off our liability list,” Stern said.

Franklin is the fourth former elementary school to be sold by the district, joining Shull-David, Mahoning and East Penn.

Joseph Bennett, using the name Lehighton School Site LLC, posted the successful bid of $402,500 for Shull-David Elementary School during a public auction last month.

He outbid Behavioral Health Associates, which submitted a pre-bid of $400,000, but did not attempt to go higher. Bennett has yet to publicly say what he intends to do with the property.

In November 2017, Lehighton sold East Penn and Mahoning elementary schools for $350,000 each, also at public auction. BHA was the successful bidder for Mahoning, where it now runs the Mahoning Valley Academy for grades 7 through 12. Duane and Lavona Schleicher bid $350,000 on East Penn Elementary.