Torrance Board Postpones Putting School Up for Sale

The Torrance school board this week was expected to put the former Columbia School up for sale, ending an apparently futile effort to lease the vacant property.

But as the vote approached Monday night, board members were caught up in a debate as to whether a school district should retain or sell surplus schools.

In the end, they voted 3 to 2 to postpone selling the Columbia School property while the district searches again for a tenant, perhaps with a long-term lease that would permit new construction on the site.

“This, I think, is a last-ditch effort that we can try, and I’d like to try it,” said board member Ann P. Gallagher, who suggested the delay.

Several residents who spoke at the Monday meeting said they were surprised but pleased by the decision.

Robert Thompson, who said he is a member of the Madrona Homeowners Assn., sharply criticized what he called the school district’s tendency to sell former school buildings.

According to board President Owen H. Griffith, the district has closed 15 schools since the late 1960s, selling nine of them outright, using four for other school purposes, and selling one for park use. The Columbia site is the only one whose fate has not been determined.

“Every time you sell a school, you go through the motions of trying to lease it first,” Thompson told the board. “I feel like I should have a video to show you.” He later said that he favors study of a long-term lease.

But board member William R. Blischke said he doubts that a tenant can be found.

“We went down this road before,” Blischke said. “We found there was no one living at the end of it.”

The former Columbia School, at 4502 186th St. in northwest Torrance, has been vacant for two years as the school district has studied possible uses. Windows are boarded up and graffiti is scrawled on the walls.

School officials had sought to lease the 4.95-acre site before putting it up for sale, saying state law forbids districts to use the proceeds of a land sale for anything but capital improvements.

The tenant search was stymied, however, when no one submitted bids by the June 4 deadline. So the board directed the district staff to prepare information about a sale. The Monday agenda included a resolution stating the board’s intention to sell the property to the highest bidder at a minimum price of $3.5 million, with bids to be opened July 16.

Instead, a board majority--Gallagher, Griffith and member John L. Eubanks--voted to look harder for a tenant. A staff report is expected sometime in July, and bids for leases will be sought later in the summer.

Griffith said Wednesday that he wants to settle the school’s status soon. “It’s just sitting there now. It attracts people who climb over the fence. There’s graffiti.”

A decision to sell or lease the school will require a two-thirds majority, or four of the five board members, Griffith said.

District officials earlier indicated that a tenant would be responsible for rehabilitating the buildings, at a cost of $650,000 or more, with a lease term of 10 to 30 years.

Eubanks speculated this week that the terms may have discouraged potential tenants.

“My perception of our first try is, maybe the terms we were offering were not really the terms that the real estate market was used to or . . . willing to accept,” Eubanks said Tuesday. The new terms, he said, will probably be less restrictive.

“I think all the board members recognize that leasing is better for the district,” Eubanks said.

The Switzer Center, a Torrance school for learning-disabled and emotionally disturbed children, had expressed interest in leasing or purchasing the school. Switzer representatives were discouraged by the short leasing period and the rehabilitation cost, said Janet Switzer, the school’s founder and executive director.

Switzer said Tuesday that the prospect of a longer leasing period would be much more attractive.

No information was available about other potential tenants or buyers. District employees referred questions about the school to Harvey Oelkers, assistant superintendent for business services, who did not return telephone messages Tuesday or Wednesday.