Two Lehighton schools sell for $350K each

Where some of Lehighton’s youngest residents got their start will now become home to many of its retirees.

Lehighton Area School District agreed to sell two of its elementary schools Wednesday morning following a public auction.

Duane and Lavona Schleicher bid $350,000 on East Penn Elementary, located at 496 W. Lizard Creek Road.

“We’re planning an adult living complex, a retirement type of home,” Duane Schleicher said following the auction. “Our family donated the land to the school district in the 1950s. Our family owns all around it. We wanted to keep it nice looking.”

Schleicher said he hopes to begin construction immediately after closing.

“We’ll start with zoning approvals and engineering right away.”

Schleicher said he anticipates the adult living center will be a $4 million project.

Behavioral Health Associates bid $350,000 on Mahoning Elementary, 2466 Mahoning Drive East.

Executive Director Richard Caffery said BHA will keep it as a school and use it for multiple programs.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of closing one of our buildings and moving it to Mahoning,” he said. “We have some programs we’re looking to move in there. We had been looking for a place to expand, and when this became available, it was a natural fit.”

Caffery said he hopes BHA can have programs up and running at the school for the start of the 2018-19 school year.

The buyers were the only two bids for the respective buildings.

Lehighton solicitor William Schwab said he anticipates closing and the official transfer of property will take place in July or August.

About a week before the auction, Schwab said there had been some additional interest in the buildings, though no other prospective buyers emerged Wednesday.

A representative from Omni Construction did write to the district, asking if it could delay the auction for three weeks to allow it to do inspections for a potential buyer interested in bidding.

“I don’t have the power to delay the auction,” Schwab said Wednesday. “That would have to be direction from the school board.”

Both schools are being sold “as is” with realty transfer taxes to be paid by the buyers.

Following the auction, both Schleicher and Caffery signed sales agreement papers. Schwab said a minimum 5 percent deposit was required and would be held in escrow until settlement.

The district is closing its four existing elementary schools and opening a $33 million elementary center in the fall of 2018.