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The Town of Essex is looking for a buyer for the former Harrow District High School with the intention of converting the property into multi-residential housing.
The town has put out a request for proposals for potential buyers interested in developing the property.
In February, Essex council voted to put the school, which closed in 2016, up for sale after deciding the estimated $10 million it would take for the municipality to restore the building as a community centre was too expensive.
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The town bought the school on the 12.6-acre site from the Greater Essex County District School Board for almost $866,000 in 2021.
Mayor Sherry Bondy said in February the nature of the housing hadn’t yet been determined.
“We don’t exactly know what that looks like yet. It could be condos, it could be mixed-income apartments, it could be a series of duplexes or sixplexes,” she said at the time.
Closing date for bidders is March 31 at 3 p.m.
Conversion of school properties into housing is proving to be a popular move among Essex municipalities.
In 2023, Leamington chose developer Amico Group to tear down the former Leamington District Secondary School and construct a “community” on the 13-acre property with 30 per cent of the residential units to be offered at “attainable” rental rates.
That project encompasses 305 residential units, including 105 townhouses.
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In Amherstburg, Valente Development Corp. purchased the old General Amherst High School. Plans call for a mixed-use residential, commercial and civic complex, which could double as a municipal theatre, with an adjoining park featuring a pedestrian promenade and event spaces. Development costs could exceed $50 million, according to the company’s website.
And in Kingsville, the town is considering buying three former schools — Kingsville District High School, Kingsville Public School and Jack Miner Public School — that were shut down to make way for the new Erie Migration District School, which opened in September.
Kingsville has yet to decide what it would do with those properties should the town purchase them, but Mayor Dennis Rogers has said housing would be considered.
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