Gering and McKinley Schools property owner at odds over purchase price

(McKinley School)

The Gering city council spent only 15 minutes in closed session Monday night before rejecting a counter-offer from McKinley School property owner Bill Brashear regarding the sale of his property. Mayor Ed Mayo says the city offered $75,000 for the nearly 100 year old vacant school building and the one square block area surrounding it. Brashear countered with $150,00. Brashear purchased the property for $62,000 in 1998.

The purchase is part of a project the city is working on with Western Nebraska Housing Opportunities to place single family homes on the property with the help of a $470,000 state housing grant the city has applied for. Mayo says the council and the neighbors would like to "clean up the property" if they can negotiate a purchase price.

Mayo says the council's offer was based on the condition of the property and the building, which he says is in a "state of entrophy." He says the council's offer also considers the costs for demolition and asbestos abatement, which the mayor says could be around $300,000 based on the cost for Gering schools to recently demolish the old Lincoln elementary building. It was built at the same time and has the same construction style as McKinley.

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