Someone Offers $150 for Panther Valley Middle School - Where I Taught for 33 Years

One bid, for $150, made for Panther Valley School



By CHRIS PARKER cparker@tnonline.com
A Lansford man who offered to rally volunteers to help repair the former Panther Valley Middle School has submitted the sole bid – $150 – to buy the building.

School district Business Manager Ken Marx said the school board expects to consider the bid, submitted by Adam Webber, of 356 W. Ridge St., on March 12.

School Superintendent Rosemary Porembo said school officials would discuss the bid at a Finance and Budget Committee meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday.

"We'll let the discussion go Thursday and see where we are headed," she said.

"I'm sure (school board members) want to talk with him on his intentions before they make a decision," said School District Business Manager Ken Marx.

Webber submitted his bid on Friday, just before the 3 p.m. deadline. A call to Webber's phone on Tuesday resulted in a message saying the number was not in service.

Council president Bob Gaughan was surprised there was only one bid – and that one from a borough resident.

"I would have expected some developers from the Lehigh Valley to bid on the building," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "As we all know, it's a prime piece of property located in the center of Lansford. It also has (tax exempt) Keystone Opportunity Zone status, which to me would make the property very attractive."

Gaughan said the borough still plans to study whether it can use the 90-year-old school, at 11 E. Bertsch St., for office space, leased space and storage.

"As far as the borough is concerned, we still are going to stay the course with what our original plans were," he said. "And that is to have an engineer do a preliminary evaluation for us as to the overall status of the building.

We have contacted Cowan Associates, which are the borough engineers, to look at the building and give us a professional estimate as to its condition."

A full feasibility study, estimated to cost about $30,000, could follow the preliminary evaluation.

This was the second time the district sought to sell the building, appraised at $97,000. The first round, in July, brought no bids.

At a public meeting called earlier this month by council to gather residents' opinions on whether it should acquire the old school, Webber urged officials to move fast to acquire the building and then seek grants to refurbish it.

Once the roof is sound, he said, the borough will be able to wait to do the inside work, he said.

Webber suggested the borough call on volunteers to help with the work, and offered his own time and expertise. He also said he could easily round up four others.

Solicitor Robert T. Yurchak said the borough could use the volunteers as long as they were covered by insurance.

The school district vacated the massive building in 2007 when it built a $17.2 million school next to its high school on Route 209 in Summit Hill. School officials have said the district could not afford to bring the building up to government standards for education or maintain it.

Council had agreed to take the building, which has 57,000 square feet of usable space.

The school board in September agreed to turn the building over after plans to sell it to a developer for the Rite Aid corporation fell through and after council threatened to take the matter to the courts. But a month later, council began having second thoughts. Council members were concerned about the downward economic spiral and the building's deterioration.

A stalemate ensued, and the school board on Jan. 15 voted to seek bids for the building's sale. School directors at a Building and Grounds Committee meeting Jan. 12 said they would also seek bids to demolish it if it's not sold.