Highlands officials want at least $500,000 for former Fawn Elementary

Highlands officials are trying again to offload an unused former elementary school.

The school board is accepting bids on the former Fawn Elementary, later known as the Highlands Support Center, on Ridge Road.

Bids must be at least $500,000.

Vacant for about six years, the 30,000-square-foot school sits on nearly 15 acres just off Burtner Road. The parcel is assessed at $2.8 million, according to Allegheny County real estate records.

The school board in February hired Integra Realty Resources to prepare a valuation on the building, which for years housed kindergarten, first grade and second grade students.

In 2018, it was renamed the Highlands Support Center and used for the district’s partial hospital program, alternative education, support and intervention rooms, and a cyber charter school. It closed the following year.

District officials at that time put the building on the market without success.

Since then, it has been used for storage but the district’s former director of buildings and grounds told the board last year that a leaking roof was posing a problem.

The roof is at least 35 years old.

According to the district website, the property is being sold “as is” and the buyer is responsible for determining conditions with respect to the availability of public sewers, zoning, subdivision approvals and environmental issues.

Prospective buyers have until noon May 30 to submit a bid to Paul Paradise, director of business affairs, at the district’s administrative offices, 1500 Pacific Ave.

Bid packets can be found at goldenrams.com.