Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Should County Council Sell 20 Acre School Site for $1.9 Million?

The Montgomery County Council is considering selling a 20 acre former MCPS school site (the old Peary High School) in Rockville for $1.9 million based on a deal made in 1996. 


Here is what an outside evaluator had to say about the terms of the deal back in 2006:
...County Council requested an objective review of the assumptions and methodology used in the Administration’s calculations. The Council essentially wanted to know whether the Administration’s assumptions were reasonable and in accordance with industry standards, and whether the Administration took into account the value of the lease and the underlying property. 
Based upon the information available, the answer to the above questions would be “No.”...
Read the full report at this link:
November 6, 2006, Old Peary High School
UPDATE November 12, 2010: County Executive Ike Leggett announces amendment to proposed sale, and County PTA votes to oppose sale.

4 comments:

  1. What about using this site to build a brand new Edison Tech HS that any student in MCPS could attend?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The numbers and assumptions used in this report pre-date the collapse of the housing market. In perusing the memo, I note numerous mentions that the county would be selling the land under market value. Well, that was in 2006. Is it still under market value in today's depressed market? I don't know. I'd like to see updated figures that would paint a more relistic pitcure than that painted in this outdated memo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @9:59 - Well you work for MCPS so use your connections to get an updated report!
    But since the Council is going to vote on this soon you better act fast! Until you get your Apple people to move on this (which they won't) all the public has is a 2006 report that makes clear this is not a good deal for the County.

    Thanks to the late Councilmember Marilyn Praisner for having the foresight to obtain this report and make it available to the public.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ New York Law Firm: If you have a response we would be happy to post it as a Guest Post on the Parents' Coalition blog. Just sign your name to it, let us know who you are representing, and we will post it separately.

    ReplyDelete

If your comment does not appear in 24 hours, please send your comment directly to our e-mail address:
parentscoalitionmc AT outlook.com