BLACKSBURG, Va. – The town of Blacksburg will spend $3.3 million to create new park space, and it hopes eventually a recreation center, at the old high school site.
Council approved the plan at its meeting Tuesday night. Montgomery County tried to sell the land to the town a few years ago, but they couldn't make a deal, so the Shelor Company bought it instead.
The town's hangup the first time around was the cost of demolishing the school. But under the new plan, Shelor will keep the school itself and the town will buy the land around it.
"So we're getting about two-thirds of the property. It will meet the town's needs and we don't have to pay for the demolition costs of the old buildings and then so the project will go through a rezoning process over the next several months and the citizens will be able to have input as to what happens there," Blacksburg Town Manager Marc Verniel said.
The deal hinges on a rezoning of the land where the physical school sits so Shelor can tear it down and develop patio homes in its place.