The Apollo School is still in the hands of the City of Burlington after no bids were placed on the property during a Monday Night City Council meeting.
At a work session last week, City Manager Jim Ferneau said that at least two developers had expressed interest in the property. Neither of those developers showed up to bid on the property when the auction was opened–but Ferneau says that was because the developers wanted to see if it was possible to recieve Tax Increment Financing dollars to use for the project.
“One of the things they specifically wanted some discussion on is the potential for a TIF rebate on this property…a request on the property changes how the sale process needs to occur. It would have to be under a different format. With that in mind they didn’t want to proceed with [the public auction] format,” Ferneau said Monday.
The process to secure that financing and ultimately make a sale will be more time-consuming than a public auction.
The offer is still contingent on constructing at least 40 housing units and investing at least $5 million into the property within two years.
The school building, first built in 1908, has sat vacant for years.
