That Big Empty Building on Idlewood is for Sale
Winthrop Hall Residence
Winthrop Hall, the old John B. Cary West End School that towers over the 2100 blocks of Idlewood and Grayland Avenues, is now up for sale. The unoccupied building has been deteriorating for months. The owner is Stephen J. Staats, a real estate developer who made headlines in 1997 when he bought the property for under $200k and converted it to an assisted living facility. As recently as 2008, the building has been assessed by the city at $6.5 million and $5.3 million in 2009.
There have been rumors that the site was slated to serve as a mental health facility after the assisted living enterprise folded. At this point the future is wide open. There have been calls for a grocery store, an elementary school, and a community center. At the very least, it would be an improvement to see the yard kept, the windows unboarded and without broken glass, and just a tad less random graffiti.
The news of the sale came from news at the CAPS meeting for the Near West
district. Ward Kuper, our local environmental officer, and the City were both moving on this property to address its upkeep. During this process, the Kuper came across the contact information for the the sales agent for the property. If there is any information about a potential buyer, or any other details, please add that information to the comments.
If you would like a REALLY BIG house, the building has over 50k square feet of finished living space and nearly 20k in the basement. It sits on a parcel that is over two acres of fenced in area.
This is a gorgeous building and I would love to see something meaningful for the community go in there. It seems unlikely that a second community center would be built three blocks from where a lovely one already stands. I can’t believe he bought it for under $200K. I hope he has it reasonably priced and it sells quickly to someone who develops it well.
I’ve followed up for more details, but have only managed to find out that this is a “private sale” and therefore there won’t be a listing to reference. I’ll be interested to know what the price ends up being.
I have checked on loop.net and it’s listing for $2.8 million. Do you think that the community would be in favor of another assisted living facility?