Shuttered Mt. Pleasant elementary school up for sale

For sale: One shuttered elementary school building on nearly 5 acres in Mt. Pleasant Township and 10 acres of surrounding land.

The Mt. Pleasant Area School District is selling Lloyd F. Rumbaugh Elementary School at 2414 School St., a year after it closed as part of a realignment.

The district is accepting sealed bids until 4 p.m. June 5 for the building and 4.9 acres of adjacent land. Separate bids are being sought for the 10 acres property, according to a legal advertisement. Bids are to be opened June 8, prior to a school board workshop meeting a week later.

Bidders are expected to explain how they would use the property and the time frame for completing proposed projects. How the property might be used is simply a gauge for the school board to use before any sale is completed, Superintendent Timothy Gabauer said.

As of Tuesday morning, the district had not received any bids, “but anticipate we will be receiving interest shortly,” Gabauer said. The school district, which reserves the right to reject any bids, has been receiving inquiries for the last few months relative to the property in anticipation of the bid process occurring, Gabauer noted.

Township supervisors must approve the proposed subdivision of the property. The district will not approve any purchase until it receives that approval.

Caprice Mills, township secretary-treasurer, could not be reached for comment. Supervisors are scheduled to meet June 15.

The building served as an elementary school for 60 years. At the time of its closing, about 160 kindergarten and first-grade students in the Ramsay Elementary School area went to Rumbaugh. The school was built to replace Fairview Elementary School, a two-room school destroyed by fire in 1958, according to the district website.