TUSTIN : Agency Hired to Sell Red Hill School Site

Trustees for the Tustin Unified School District have decided to hire a consultant to help sell the 10-acre Red Hill School site.

The school district tried to sell the property through competitive bidding in August last year, but there were no takers, apparently because of the slumping economy, officials said.

But with the hiring of Lee & Associates of Orange, Supt. Dave Andrews said Wednesday that district officials hope to find a buyer. The state has given the Tustin school district permission to negotiate directly with a buyer, he said.

Paul Fisher, the school district’s finance director, said that Lee & Associates will receive 2% of the money from the sale of the property, which the school district hopes to sell for $3 million.

Fisher said that the real estate company will get the fee only if escrow closes or when the school district receives payment for the property.

The school site, at 11911 Red Hill Ave., has been closed since 1982. Some of the classrooms are being leased to a private school.

Money from the sale will be used to complete the renovation of the Columbus Tustin campus on Beneta Way, which is scheduled to reopen in 1994-95, Andrews said. The district needs about $2 million to finish the renovation, he said.

Andrews said that Lee & Associates was picked over three other consultants because the company’s president, Chuck Noble, a North Tustin resident, is aware that residents near the school are worried about a developer building apartments and condominiums on the site.

“I hate to see three years from now apartments across the street from me,” said Sally Howie, a 17-year Tustin resident.

Other residents have said that the school district should keep the school site because it might be needed as student enrollment grows. But school district officials said that enrollment in the area has declined and the site is no longer needed.