Jeannette school district seeks new bids on former building site

Jeannette City School District is once again accepting bids for vacant property that previously held a school on South Fourth Street.

Superintendent Matt Jones said directors approved a resolution Monday to seek bids for four contiguous parcels at the intersection of Cuyler and Chambers avenues and South Fourth Street. A previous bid process within the past year resulted in a potential buyer, but Jones said that sale fell through.

“We would ideally look for one purchaser for the property,” he said.

The four properties up for bid are next to the First Presbyterian Church of Jeannette and just south at the intersection of Cuyler and Chambers avenues.

Classes at the former school started in the 1920s. It was used by high schoolers until a new building was constructed in 1959. The South Fourth Street school switched to middle school classes until the early 1990s when students were moved to the current McKee building on Lowry Avenue, according to a book compiled for Jeannette’s 125th anniversary.

In 2005, school directors rejected a $5 bid from a Pittsburgh company to purchase the building and demolished it later that year, according to the book and Tribune-Review archives. Several residents collected artifacts from the building to create a monument in its memory.

Now, the vacant property sits not far from Jeannette Manor in an area with homes, industry and local businesses a couple blocks from Clay Avenue. Jones said it could be a good opportunity to attract new development to the city.

“I’m really hopeful that we can sell the property,” he said.

Bids are due by Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. to Sheila Ramler, board secretary, at the district’s administrative offices at 116 Park St. The bids, which must be for all four parcels, will be opened at noon.