Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A large Bucks County developer has made an offer to purchase three of Bristol Township’s closed elementary schools.
The school board unanimously voted Wednesday evening to approve a deal for McGrath Homes to purchase the John Fitch Elementary School on Greenbrook Drive, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School on Plumtree Drive, and George Washington Elementary School on Crabtree Drive for $1.2 million. The deal is by no means completed and the district will has to petition the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas to get the sale approved.
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In total, the deal contains about 45 acres of land in the township’s Levittown section. The three school properties are nestled in residential neighborhoods.
The developer will have to demolish the older school buildings and abate them on toxins.
School board officials said the developer plans a 55-plus development on three properties. The early word on the plans calls for three different types of flats and apartments for residents who are 55-plus.
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As part of the preliminary deal, the softball fields at the Fitch school will be preserved.
The district is still looking to sell the Maple Shade and Lafayette elementary schools. The closed Clara Barton Elementary School is being converted in the district administration, transportation, and maintenance hub.
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The buildings shuttered two years ago but basic maintenance and security continue at the sites. However, vandalism has been a a major problem at the sites.
McGrath has become a major player in Levittown-area development with a 55-plus project called St. Joseph Court along New Falls Road in Falls Township, the under-construction Stonehaven subdivision along Langhorne-Yardley Road in Middletown, and efforts underway to develop behind St. Michael the Archangel Church on Levittown Parkway in Tullytown.
Earlier this year, School Board President Angela Nober said the district was seeking the best offers for the school system and the neighborhoods.
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Previous offers that have come forward for the school sites have been from a developer looking to building senior housing, a nonprofit aiming to open low-incoming housing, a company with plans for age-restricted housing or facilities for people with traumatic brain injuries and other disabilities, and the township, which later pulled its offer.
The district closed the six older elementary schools as they consolidated to three new, larger schools two years ago.
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