Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
After years of delays and uncertainty, the Bristol Township School District is expected to finally close on the sale of three empty school buildings in Levittown.
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The school board voted 8-0 Thursday evening to approve the sale of the three empty schools to JRGF LLC, which is a company operated by developer John McGrath, who first entered into an agreement to buy the properties in 2018.
District officials and McGrath are expected to meet by the end of next week to close on the sale.
McGrath, whose project is backed by former District Judge Robert Wagner, whose wife sits on council and is the non-elected secretary for the school board, presented his plan last year to develop three 55-plus communities with townhouses featuring garages, condo-like flats, and senior apartments at the 17.5-acre John Fitch Elementary School on Greenbrook Drive, 10-acre Abraham Lincoln Elementary School on Plumtree Drive, and 17-acre George Washington Elementary School on Crabtree Drive in Levittown. The plan still has to go through land development before it moves forward.
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The $1.2 million deal covers roughly 45 acres of property in Bristol Township.
The Bristol Township School Board and a county court approved McGrath’s plan to purchase the school sites in 2019.
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The developer will be charged with demolishing the aging buildings that have been closed since the district consolidated to new elementary schools in 2016.
The vacant buildings have become a headache for residents who have complained about overgrown grass and weeds, damaged structures, vermin, trespassers, trash, and arsons at the properties. The district has provided some security and maintenance to the closed facilities, but their efforts have appeared to be largely futile.
The school board and Bristol Township Council have heard the complaints from residents over the properties for years.
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As recent as last month, school district officials said they would move forward with plans to demolish the schools if the sale with McGrath did not move forward soon.
Two other former school sites have been sold to other developers.
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At the former Maple Shade school site, a V-shaped 5.7-acre lot along Newport Road in Croydon, Maple Shade Development LLC, which is connected to Falls Township-based Premium Excavating and Demolition, is seeking to turn the land into 24 single-family homes.
Developer DR Horton plans to use the 20.9-acre site of Lafayette Elementary School site off Fayette Drive to built twin homes, a total of 88 units. The development would be 55-plus.
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The sixth school, the former former Clara Barton building, was not put up for sale and is now used as the district administration, transportation, and maintenance hub.
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