An investment group that included the late Ed Boesen has informed Des Moines school officials that is pulling out of a deal to develop the former Rice Elementary School site .
Rice Development Partners told school officials that it intends to terminate an agreement to purchase the vacant school site at 3001 Beaver Ave. for $650,000.
School officials said in a prepared statement today that they believe the contract is binding and that the district will take action “to mitigate its losses as a result of the breach of contract.”
"It is our position that we have a valid and enforceable contract," Beth Nigut, the school district's lawyer, told The Des Moines Register in late July.
The school board initially decided in 2006 to sell the 4.4-acre school site in Beaverdale to Rice Development Partners for $650,000.
The partners planned to build an $11.6 million residential and retail project on the site, though they had not taken ownership of the property.
The school board later voted to knock off $130,000 to pay for sewer improvements.
The development group includes Boesen's brothers, Tom and Frank. All are related to school board member Connie Boesen, who did not vote on the contract.
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2 comments:
On your poll, "What should the Des Moines Schools do with the Rice Field property?, Add the option:
Build a new elementary PUBLIC school on the site.
Rice Elementary School should never had been demolished. The DMPS District promised the residents it would not be demolished in return for their one cent sales tax money.
Superintendent Witherspoon told Councilman Vlassis that projections were that a school would be needed in Beaverdale within 10-20 years of Rice School being closed. That projection is proving to be accurate. Currently some Beaverdale parents are discourage because Monroe school is full and they are told their children can not attend the school for the area.
(Why would the councilman that represents the Beaverdale area vote to develop the land - rezone to PUD - when he was told that land would be needed for a school in the near future? Where does Councilman Vlassis interests lie?
That vote would indicate not with the residents he represents)
The land should remain a park until the school district can build a new school.
Rice Field was part of a land swap for Prospect Park and Franklin Field. Rice Field was to replace public land the school district took to built a parking lot on Prospect Park soccer fields and a Community Center on Franklin Field. So far there has not been any land to replace the land that would be lost to the public if Rice Field were to be developed.
Public land should remain public land. The public has paid for that land with their taxes. The public deserves to keep the land.
Where else in northwest Des Moines is the school district ever again going to find 5 acres of land for only $500,000? The land is too valuable for the school district to ever sell. If Des Moines Public School District ever hopes to be a leader again, they are going to need land for schools. They need to keep the land they have.
Northwest Des Moines residents need to keep their eyes on Woodlawn and Moore Schools properties before the DMPS makes deals with developers for those properties also.
Residents need to make sure that school officials allow them input into those properties. NO SECRET MEETINGS!
Any parent who lives in the Monroe boundaries may currently enroll at Monroe. People in Beaverdale who live in the Perkins or Hillis boundaries have to apply for open enrollment and there may or may not be room at Monroe for them but anyone in the Monroe boundaries may attend.
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