The Jackson School District has reduced the asking price for the former Christa McAuliffe Middle School and its surrounding property, lowering the minimum bid from $54.4 million to $44.4 million as officials continue seeking a buyer for the shuttered facility.
The district announced the adjustment in late November, two months after expressing confidence that the property could draw the original price. The campus, located on South Hope Chapel Road, includes a 126,305-square-foot school building, five modular classrooms totaling 3,500 square feet, athletic facilities, administrative offices and a cafetorium with a full kitchen.
The district closed the McAuliffe school over the summer following years of declining public school enrollment, shrinking state aid and mounting budget shortfalls. Officials determined that selling the building was the most viable long-term strategy to stabilize district finances.
The property sits just over the border with Lakewood, where rapid population growth among Orthodox Jewish families has driven demand for new educational facilities. Many families have also moved into eastern and central Jackson, further increasing interest in school properties near the border of the two communities.
Earlier this year, the Jackson School District finalized the sale of Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School on Citadel Drive for $13.1 million to Bais Yaakov of Jackson (Bais Faiga).