And The Winner of the Former Middle School Property Is ….

The Ames Community School District decided to settle a bidding war over the 48 acre former Ames Middle School site with an auction Friday.

Breckenridge Land Acquisition/Aspen Heights of Austin, Texas; and Hunziker & Associates Land Development of Ames, appeared at the sale and offered bids for above $2 million before representatives of Hunziker Land Development said “You Win.”

Breckenridge was declared the winner with a final bid of $2.3 million.

Earlier this year, Breckenridge offered $2.5 million for the land and said it would demolish the former middle school and hoped to build a 900 bedroom development consisting of Craftsman style town homes, houses and duplexes that management would rent by the room on three parcels of middle school property. Other bids came in as well and Breckenridge had offered to pay as much as $2.8 million for the land.

Residents present at the auction Friday cried “No.” when they learned Breckenridge had won.

“I'm not very happy,” said Marilyn Clem who lives in the neighborhood. “I'm sure none of us are. If 900 people move into the neighborhood it's not going to be a decent place to live.”

Clem and other residents met after the auction discussing a plan to save their neighborhood.

Charlie Vatterott, Aspen Heights vice president of development, had a plan as well.

Vatterott said that his company has scaled back the original development density. He brought a new drawing showing 12 single-family lots along Wilmouth Avenue as a buffer between the college student housing development and the residential neighborhood.

Before the sale is final the Ames Community School Board will have to set a date for a public hearing and approve the sale, which will probably take place sometime in January. The property would then close in 45 days.

Breckenridge Land Acquisition would have six months to demolish the former middle school site.

Vatterott said he hoped the college student housing would be available by the fall of 2013.

Teresa Simpson and Luke Deardorff, school board members, present at the auction said in a prepared statement after the auction results that they were pleased with the outcome.

Simpson said the auction was the most transparent way to dispose of the property. Deardorff said proceeds of the land sale would fund the district's priorities such as a new pool at the Ames High School and a technology initiative. 

And the district would also be ridding itself of the former middle school site. The school stopped using the building in 2005.

Ames Superintendent Tim Taylor said he was relieved that they may have finally rid the district of a deteriorating building.

“The building has been a huge liability for the District,” Taylor said in a statement released by the district after the sale.

“Selling this land will help us eliminate an eyesore that’s troubling for the whole community," he said.