Former Windsor Elementary School property in Elyria up for auction today

The former site of Elyria's Windsor Elementary School will go up for auction today. The auction will be held at the Elyria Schools Administration Center, 42101 Griswold Road in Elyria at 9 a.m. Those wanting to attend should enter off Adelbert Street. Windsor closed its doors for good in June 2020 and the Elyria Board of Education voted to demolish it in May. Any asbestos on the property was abated, demolition took place this summer and the property has been cleared, graded and seeded with grass. Utilities still are in place to make new construction or development easier. Attorney Howard Lane — whose firm also does legal work for The Chronicle and its parent company, Lorain County Printing & Publishing — will be conducting the auction and sale. Paul Rigda, former Elyria City Schools superintendent from 2005-2015 and now a consultant on facilities and property issues for the Elyria Board of Education, said the 9.85 acres of former Windsor Elementary School at 264 Windsor Drive was first offered to area charter schools. Charter schools have what is called the "right of first refusal," and had to show interest in the property within 60 days after getting a notice from the school board. "If (the charter schools) don't want it, you can put it up for auction," Rigda said. He said the auction notice was in The Chronicle-Telegram in late August and he contacted building contractors and also the Lorain County Realtors Association to get out word of the auction. "We're curious to see who might be interested," Rigda said. The high bidder must provide 10 percent of the bid price in cash or by certified check or money order payable to "Elyria City School District Board of Education" at the time of the auction, according to an Aug. 28 legal notice. The Elyria Board of Education "reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids at its sole discretion. Unless the bid is rejected by the Board, the property shall be sold to the highest bidder," according to the legal notice. The entire balance of the sale price, if accepted, must be paid within 30 days of the final purchase agreement, the legal notice stated. Windsor, Franklin and Ely Elementary schools and Northwood Middle School all closed in 2020 and were replaced by a new Ely Elementary, Hamilton Elementary School and the district's Northwood Campus. Elyria City Schools previously transferred the land belonging to the Oakwood, Franklin and McKinley elementary schools to the city several years ago in exchange for some property next to the Northwood Campus on Abbe Road. The city has been going over plans to turn Oakwood into a community center, while McKinley school was sold to neighboring University Hospitals. Two other former Elyria City Schools properties have been offered to interested charter schools and are within the 60-day time frame for any charter schools to show interest. If they decline, those properties will go up for auction in December, Rigda said. The former Elyria West High School property off Adelbert Street — the school closed in 1996 and its student body was consolidated with the current Elyria High School on Middle Avenue — had a second life as the board of education offices before it was demolished this year. There is also the former Prospect Elementary School, 1410 Prospect St. in Elyria in the Eastern Heights neighborhood, Rigda said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.