DCPS board approves $5M purchase of former US Bank building

Jun. 2—The Daviess County Public Schools board approved a $5 million purchase of the former US Bank building at 4801 Frederica Street for a new district school support center.

After an eight-year search, DCPS Superintendent Matt Robbins said this building would replace a couple of the district's existing properties and unify personnel from across five separate buildings.

Those five buildings include:

—Current district office on Southeastern Parkway;

—Current learning center property — training space and special education office space on Parrish Plaza Drive;

—District office space used at Heritage Park High School;

—Renting office space at Owensboro Community & Technical College Southeast Campus and;

—Maintenance department on Southtown Boulevard

"Our first priority is going to be to unify our staff to the best of our ability and then keep progressing forward," Robbins said.

Robbins said this was the right time for the district to act on this purchase.

"We've looked at multiple different properties that have come on the market, some of those were timing situations that were problematic for us," he said. "We've always felt like our school needs had to be addressed first and foremost, but we're at a point where those have either been addressed or are being addressed."

According to Robbins, the board has not decided yet on whether or not to sell the properties on Southeastern Parkway and Parrish Plaza Drive.

"Those would be future decisions based on discussions with the board of education," he said. "At this point, there's not any intent to sell any of our properties that we have."

Rather than spending more to construct a new building, Robbins said purchasing the 115,000-square-foot building was the cheaper option.

"DCPS could have only constructed an equivalent building that was 21,900-square-feet in size, exclusive of the property," he said. "This would be slightly smaller in size than the current district office/learning center."

The building sold for $43.91 per square foot, making the overall price less than 20% of the cost of new construction, exclusive of the 11.62 acres of the US Bank property acquired in the purchase, Robbins said.

Robbins said the current cost per square foot for new commercial construction is $234, excluding the land value.

The district plans to utilize both buildings on the 11.62 acre property.

"We have some great opportunities there to vision with space about services, amenities, benefits that we might be able to provide to our employees across the district," Robbins said. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity for us to really gather together and have idea-sharing moments."

There were several reasons the board liked this property for the new support center, including being in a centralized location, but Robbins said it also allows for the district to grow in new ways.

"It greatly expands access to schools and provides the opportunity for new amenities, including a world-class teacher/staff training and development center," he said.

Robbins said there is "no question" that the new building will provide more than enough space, including during board meetings.

"When we have recognitions of employees, students and student groups, we often have to partition those over meetings just because the space doesn't allow for that," he said. "The overflow we've experienced in our building has been problematic on more than one occasion."

Because the property purchase was recent, there is not a definitive closing date yet, but Robbins anticipates it could occur by mid- to late-August.

"We know we're going to move quickly with thought and action because we'd like to make it happen sooner rather than later, but we don't want to rush it and make mistakes along the path," he said.

The process to purchase began March 27, but Robbins said there were other bidders who had made offers.

"We know that we were in the final two that were competing, and we're not even sure we had the highest bid on the property because we knew that there was another very, very competitive bid," he said.

Robbins said the money used for the purchase came out of the district's building fund.

"As a portion of our funding mechanism, we have money that's exclusively dedicated, in a restrictive manner, towards facility purposes," he said. "We couldn't take that money and use it for operating purposes if we wanted to, such as salaries, materials, equipment."

Board President Todd Anderson said purchasing the property creates "ample opportunities" for the district.

"This puts our staff in one state-of-the-art location to collaborate, support and work in an environment that has been needed for the district for a long time," he said. "I am proud of how the board has made this much needed facility a priority while being fiscally responsible."

Anderson said he is excited to see how the new facility will support the district in the board's efforts "to provide excellence, learning, communication, teamwork and safety" to all DCPS students.