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Community milestone: For several hours on September 25, 2014, school board officials signed papers finalizing their purchase of tracts totaling nearly 300 acres that will become the site of a new high school. Six property owners were involved in the sale. Photo by David Black
The payoff will be years ahead, but from any way you look at it, what took place inside the offices of Keller Williams Realty Metro South yesterday stands as a milestone for residents of Alabaster.
For several hours Thursday afternoon, papers were signed and checks issued, finalizing the city school system’s purchase of acreage that will be the site of a new high school.
The vision was laid out by Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers not long after the school system broke off from Shelby Co. and began operating as its own system in July, 2013.
The nearly 300 acres, sitting north of Kent Dairy Rd and east of the Lake Forest subdivision, involved six property owners at a price tag of about $3.8 million.
Vickers said he was thrilled with the sale. “That property ended up being the best possible place we could be. It ended up being a great piece of property.”
The sale was managed for the school system by Anthony Arnone, Keller Williams Realty Metro South’s Qualifying Broker and Team Leader, and Seth Berry, a KW commercial Agent. Bill Justice, an attorney in Columbiana, closed the sale.
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Attending the September 25th signing are (left), Bill Justice, closing Attorney, Derek Henderson, School Board Vice President, Dr. Wayne Vickers, Superintendent, and Adam Moseley, Board President. Photo by Seth Berry
In early September, the school board approved the sale of bonds to raise roughly $120 million. The money will go toward paying for the new high school, as well as settling debt connected with the system’s separation from the county, and other projects.
The new Thompson High School is expected to begin operations during 2017, and will be designed to accommodate up to 2,200 students.
The current high school will then be renovated and converted for use by sixth, seventh and eighth graders. The system plans for fourth and fifth graders who currently attend Thompson Intermediate School to move to Thompson Middle School.
