A legal dispute over the old College Heights School is heading to court.
Centre County Common Pleas President Judge Thomas King Kistler has ordered an Oct. 17 hearing for oral arguments at the Centre County Courthouse.
At issue is the future of the College Heights School on North Atherton Street, which is currently owned by the State College Area School District. The school district wants to sell the property to Penn State University; however, a group claiming to be heirs of the property’s former owners want to stop the sale and retake possession.
C. William Garner, Helen Garbrock, Michael Homan, George Homan and Edward Homan claim in the suit that if the district no longer uses the property for “school purposes,” ownership should revert back to the family.
In 1922, Adam and Rebecca Krumrine sold the land to the district for $1 allowing the district to build the school. The plaintiffs claim to be the Krumrines’ great grandchildren.
The College Heights School was built in 1931 and was once an elementary school. The property, located at 721 N Atherton St., includes a 14,000 square foot structure sitting on two acres. The district hasn’t used the building as a school in years.
In January, the university agreed to pay the school district $400,000 for the property to house University Press offices. University Press is a non-profit and would not print books on site. It has roughly 30 employees and operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with an occasional event, such as a book signing, after hours.
The plaintiffs argue the pending sale to Penn State violates the deeds on the property.
However, the district argues the lawsuit is invalid in part because the sale has not yet occurred and therefore, the plaintiffs’ claims are premature. The district also argues that Penn State’s use of the property would still qualify as “school purposes.”
Before the district could move forward with a sale, the district had to allow State College Borough right of first refusal. After six months and several public meetings, borough council voted to not exercise its right to purchase the property. Shortly afterwards, the family filed its lawsuit against the district.
The building has a slew of issues due to its age, such as asbestos, radon, inadequate insulation and more. The university predicted it would have to spend roughly $600,000 on renovations immediately and then another $1 million over time. The agreement with the school district also includes a clause requiring that Penn State not sell or lease the property to another K-12 institution for 20 years, which would create competition for the school district.
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