Developer backs out of sale for Big Hollow land

Big Hollow Elementary District 38 school officials announced Thursday that the proposed purchasers of the district's 11-acre vacant school site at the highly-visible corner of routes 12 and 134 have backed out of the deal.

School board vice-president Jan Carsella said the board was told by officials from Oxford Development Group LLC that the deal to buy and develop the land was dead because the current economic climate is not favorable to development.

"I don't know if surprised is the right word, but I'm very disappointed," Carsella said. "I was hoping it would lead to a favorable result for us."

Oxford entered into a contract to purchase the prime commercial property in December 2007. The sale of the property - which houses the vacant Big Hollow Primary and Taveirne Middle schools - was expected to net the district more than $5 million.

Carsella would not discuss whether the district required a deposit from Oxford when the contract to buy the property was signed. Therefore, it is unclear if the district was able to keep any deposit when Oxford backed out of the deal.

Oxford was expected to build a strip mall on the property and potentially have the site developed in one year.

Carsella said the school board will meet and discuss future options for the site during their next board meeting on Aug. 18 at 7 p.m.

"We hoped this sale would go through and it didn't," she said. "But, we aren't starting from square one. There are options on the table for the board to consider."

Among those options are putting the land back up for sale, or leasing the property to a developer.

She said all options for the future of the site would be reviewed at the board meeting, so discussing the next step is premature.

"Those are just a couple of options, and the board is reviewing all alternatives for the site," she said.