Seaford sorely needs the proceeds (money) from the sale of that old school. It is mind-boggling that they put the property on the market in June, but waited seven months to intiiate an appraisal. Well, are least they are finally moving on that score.

It is also slightly frustrating that the several articles about this property have avoided any mention or discussion of zoning issues and presently allowable uses for the building and land.

Also, that school may have been off the radar for environmental compliance. Are there latent issues with asbestos? Underground fuel storage tanks? I wonder if any of that allegedly left over bond money was meant to address asbestos remediation, tank removal, etc?

An appraisal will need to be evaluated against any hidden costs or non-conforming status that would be considered impairments of the asset and its prospective value.

This property needs to be sold ASAP. Why is the district dragging their feet?

Hopefully something better than Condo's will be done with this space! Thats just going to increase traffic, and eliminate the fields that our kids use for soccer and softball !

As it stands now, condos cannot be built there. A school could be built there, or, the existing school could be refurbished or renovated, for use as a school. This is my frustration with the lack of discussion about the zoning of this property.

Why has it not sold? Well, exactly one (1) proposal has been received, and that was for a use that would require a zoning change, which is an entirely different prospect than obtaining a variance or a special use permit. Also, the District does not yet have an appraisal, therefore, they cannot even evaluate the one (1) proposal they have received in terms of its financial propriety vis-a-vis the appraisal.

Your school district needs money. They need a buyer to show them the money...BIG MONEY! It would be very difficult, no, impossible for me to conceive of any acceptable financial offer to buy that property that would provide for retention and use of the fields by the district while meeting the expectations of the forthcoming appraisal.

Perhaps I am wrong on that account, but I don't think so.

The issue of zoning came up when Engleman-Burman made their impromptu presentation to the board a few meetings ago, and as I recall,they seemed pretty relaxed on the whole topic. I gathered that this was based on prior experience dealing with the Town of Hempstead with reference to similar situations. I, too, have been somewhat surprised by the fact that in the context of all the "ideas" that have been generated about what could or should happen with that property, there seems to have been little consideraton of what the Town would actually allow, as if the Town would pretty much go along with anything. Perhaps that's based on some indication that was received, but I also know that zoning rulings can quickly change in the face of community opinion.

The Board of Zoning Appeals can go along with almost anything by way of either a variance or special use permit. Witness the saga of 3500 Sunrise Highway. However, this is NOT a matter of a variance, it is a matter of re-zoning the property, changing the zoning, which is significantly more involved with due process. But, before a re-zoning process could begin, there would need to be a development plan, voter approval to sell the property, and a contract in place. If nothing else, the developer/buyer would need to know what new zoning to apply for.

Eight months. One proposal. What is Greiner-Maltz doing? Just how bad is the market in Seaford? On Long Island? I hope you folks are asking some questions. You do know that your school district is in trouble over there, right?

You know what i find totaly unacceptable, that the attorneys for the district as well as the listing agent GM hadn't suggested/requested that an appraisel be done intitially PRIOR to the building being put on the market.and if they did why the board didnt act. This way when an offer did come in someone would have a clue whether the offer was even worth considering. & facilitate and support amore expeditious negotiation process Silly question but if you dont know how much the property is WORTH and its value how the hell can you entertain ANY offers in a responsible fiduciary manner and more importantly how can you tell the community the property should "fetch" between 5-10 million when obviously no one had a clue .. and BTW thats a hell of a big span ..slightly irresponsible considering the ONLY offer on the table is 3.4 million. thats quite a few sheckles less then what we were told the value PROBABLY is. NOT knowing what a bank appraised value currently is does not support a strong place to negotiate from on our part.
Bascially in a nut shell how the hell can you SELL ANYTHING never mind make a counter offer if you dont know what its value is ?

Can I hear a collective "DUH "from the residents.
As to zoning- an additional few schekles may well appease the TOH , BUT will it appease the neighbors? Anyone who has sold "problem" real estate which this is - will tell you. first you get an appraisal, which clearly defines
building and site AS IS , it will list in detail issues effecting VALUE which the bank financing the purchase will need. Then you also invest in an environmental engineers report to insure that you are aware of the issues and can address them accordingly during negotiation which could effect the offer being lower then what was first presented . THIS also helps speed up the process and the terms of the agreement can be negotiated where the buyer absorbs these costs of both reports in the purchase price. You also contact the townn and the county to see what can and can not be done to the property re zoning .. If you present a TOTAL package to the buyer who has ALSO done THIER due dilligence then you insure a smoother faster transaction..
KNOWLEDGE is POWER .. The more you know the better prepared you are to make an informed decision on behalf of the taxpayers. AND your attorneys should be telling you this from the get go..

DId the district negotiate with G/M a sliding scale incentive commission %?

If the property sells at Max aooaraised value within x amount of time the commission is x%- which would be the TOP of the scale
As the price decreases and time on market increases the Brokers fee % DECREASES by a pre agreeed percentage going no lower then another pre agreed amount.
Also did the district instruct the districts legal representatives and set forth definitive time lines and bench marks for them? ie
WHo is doing the negotiating?
Time & costs allowed for processing and negotiating?
Is the districts legal representatives work, currently encompassed by a contract in place. in other words do we pay them EXTRA for negotiating this deal or is it included in their current compensation contract What are their specific duties and responsibilites? What work on their part could EXCEED the current contracts $ amount. Is the contract with our legal representatives based on number of hours worked?
I tried bringing this up and they shot me down faster then a speeding bullet. they were insulted.

If you are talking about general counsel representation, which I last knew to be Ingerman, Smith, et al for Seaford, then my recollection of their typical deal with school districts is a retainer fee which covers anything other than adversarial proceedings and out-of-pocket costs. Adversarial proceedings are billed at hourly rates, depending on who is doing the work. I don't know that negotiating a real estate contract is something that they would handle in-house, or not. I also do not know if that would be considered 'adversarial',

So, the open questions could be:
Is negotiating/writing the contract to sell the school covered by the retainer?
If not, what is the rate for doing this work?
Will outside counsel be used?