School District Offers Lease on 5 Closed Campuses in West Valley

Prompted by the specter of a massive budget shortfall, the Los Angeles Unified School District is attempting to generate much-needed revenue by offering for lease five closed schools in the San Fernando Valley.

Officials admit that the $250,000 that such leases might generate annually is a mere drop compared to the $400-million flood of red ink that the district faces next year.

But “if you get enough drops in your bucket,” an official in the district’s real estate office said, “you get a full bucket.”

The campuses--four elementary schools and one junior high--are on the western edge of the Valley, where additional classrooms are not expected to be needed for several years.

Four of the district’s approximately 20 closed schools, most of which are in the West Valley, have been leased to private groups since 1983 and generate about $370,000 annually.

Enrollment in that part of the vast district plummeted during the late 1970s, prompting the the closures beginning in the early 1980s.

Although selling school sites has proved lucrative in the past--a Canoga Park elementary school campus was sold for $2.6 million in 1986--officials have opted to rent the schools out because they forecast an eventual need for them. Enrollment districtwide is expected to burgeon from 640,000 students to more than 800,000 students by the year 2000.

Five-year leases would be offered at four of the five schools--Collier Street and Collins Street schools in Woodland Hills, Enadia Way School in Canoga Park, and Hughes Junior High School in Woodland Hills; the leases could be renewed for five years, although the district would retain the option to terminate the agreement with a one-year notice.

Highlander Road School in Canoga Park would be available for lease for an initial six-year term, which also could be extended.

The campuses, which were closed between 1979 and 1984, all are in need of repairs. Because of that, the minimum bid for the leases has been set below market rates. In return, however, successful bidders would pay for the repairs.

The district has contacted about 1,400 private organizations that have expressed interest in leasing a closed school.

But, officials said, there may not be many bidders for the properties because the commercial real estate market is soft at the moment.

A number of potential bidders attended an open house last week.