ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Clayton School District is potentially expanding it's campus after a major purchase.
In a letter sent to Clayton students and parents, the school district announced it is in the final stages of purchasing the nine-acre Caleres lot and building. The land is located right next to Clayton High School.
"Today, our students are presented with a vast amount of opportunities through classroom learning and extracurricular enrichment opportunities." said Clayton Superintendent Nisha Patel in the email. "All of our students deserve the best we can offer and we, as a district, must continue to think innovatively about the needs of our students today and in the future."
Clayton School District tells KMOX they're always looking for opportunities to improve their student's experience.
"Over the last couple months, it's been great to have the conversation of what the future holds for the school district of Clayton," said Luke Heitert, Clayton Schools District Communications Officer.
The District says they saw an opportunity to purchase the site after seeing developers back out of plans not once, but twice. The site has previously been under contract two separate times with developers who planned to turn the site into mixed use projects.
The second deal falling through made the district consider seizing the opportunity at the right time.
"While it has been a longstanding conversation of trying to find those opportunities, (this sale) just to happens to be a more recent thing," said Heitert.
Clayton Mayor Michelle Harris believes Caleres site selling to the Clayton School District is a missed opportunity for the city. She believes the site could've been turned into something great for the city as a whole and not just the school.
"The combination of revenue loss and the fact this will be really a dead zone more or less for activities that could've been entertainment and retail," said Harris.
Harris stated that while she is happy for the students and the district, she knows that there is a lot of potential tax revenue that this site could have generated from the site.
"The first thing that comes into everyone minds is the loss of property tax revenue," said Harris. "It will be in the millions when you consider the last time of any development in the last 20 years."
The school district hasn't said what they planned to use the site for, saying they don't have many details of their plan ironed out yet.
"Because we haven't closed on the property yet, a lot of those details aren't available right now," said Heitert. "What will happen after it is (the school) will go into a long term planning process."
The exact amount the school district is purchasing the site for is not yet finalized as they go through due diligence but they say the deal will be financed through 20-year financing plan meant to avoid increasing taxes and structured like a bond issue. The district will utilize District capital improvement funds.
The sale is scheduled to be closed in February 2024 subject to satisfactory due diligence.