Harbor High for sale

By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

July 17, 2008 11:15 pm

— ASHTABULA — There’s still an opportunity to purchase a piece of history.
The Ashtabula Area Board of Education and Sue Hewins, president of the city’s planning commission, and Ann Rapose, chairwoman of the city’s Architectural and Restoration Review Board, and other school officials, spent nearly two hours behind closed doors Wednesday night, talking about old Harbor High School.
“We are working with the school board to find the best resolution for old Harbor High School,” Hewins said. “Looking for a buyer to appropriately develop it.”
No one bid on the former school during a public auction last month. Minimum bid for the building and 2.2 acres was $200,000, set by the school board earlier this year, said Superintendent Joseph Donatone.
“That’s the appraised value of the building and land,” he said.
The school board was obligated by law to hold a public auction of the property, and now that it has done so, it may sell it to anyone who provides an acceptable offer, Rapose said.
“We’re still hopeful someone will (make an acceptable offer),” Rapose said.
The auction came about nearly a year after the city’s architectural review board denied the school board’s request to demolish the school. Most of the people who rallied to save the school building have spoken of the historical significance of the structure, which stands at Lake Avenue and Walnut Boulevard.
Developers interested in remodeling old buildings have toured the building. At least one developer said he pictured condominiums and ground-floor stores in the three-story building, much like the circa-1900 Cleveland Hotel in Conneaut.