School district enters tentative deal for KSPR building

If all goes as planned, Springfield Public Schools will move its administrative offices in early 2010 to the building that now houses television station KSPR.

During its Nov. 18 meeting, the SPS Board of Education authorized the district to enter a tentative contract to purchase the KSPR building at 1359 E. St. Louis St. for a total cost of $2.18 million from KY3 Inc., which owns KSPR.

The district would relocate its administrative offices from the Kraft Administrative Center, 900 N. Jefferson Ave.

According to the contract, the district has 90 days for due diligence, during which time the district may withdraw from the deal for any reason and receive a complete refund of $25,000 in earnest money.

That window gives the district - and the school board - time to facilitate public dialogue about the transaction, and for the board to further discuss the transaction, primarily at its January meeting, said board President Kris Callen.

"Really, our main reason in signing the contract before we actually had the public discussion was that we had been approached by KSPR to see if we were interested in that building, and ... we knew there were other parties that were also interested in the property," Callen said. "Having looked at various facilities over the last few years to see if they would meet our needs, this one seemed to be as close as we were going to get." Among other properties considered by the district are the former Community Blood Center of the Ozarks site on Glenstone Avenue and the former Willow Brook Foods facility in downtown Springfield.

Callen said the district already had set aside some funds for administrative facility needs - either renovations or purchasing a new site.

Superintendent Norm Ridder said the district's fiscal 2009 budget contains $600,000 for administrative space needs, but he said using those funds toward purchasing the KSPR building is a better move than making repairs to the Kraft Administrative Center.

Ridder said his main concern with the Kraft building is "that it's not built in such a way that anymore money you put into it is going to help it."

The district estimates it would cost at least $2 million to completely renovate the Kraft building.

Earlier this fall, the district had to make unexpected repairs to the building's elevator, and among the necessary renovations to maintain occupancy is a boiler repair that would cost an estimated $600,000.

"We're still not going to end up with a better (Kraft center), other than maybe some electrical and plumbing and pipes," Ridder said. "So for us to put any more money into this is not a very smart thing to do at this time."

Ridder said the $600,000 set aside in the current budget would be enough to enter a lease-purchase of the KSPR building.

Callen said the purchase will be a key issue at the school board's Jan. 20 meeting, and in particular, where the rest of the money will come from.

"There are several options out there. There's the option of putting a lease-purchase agreement on that building, or continuing to earmark (purchase) money in future budgets to meet those needs," Callen said.

Ridder said a lease-purchase is "probably going to be the best way to pay for it." The KSPR building will be vacated after KY3 Inc. finishes its $4.3 million addition to and remodel of its facility at 999 W. Sunshine St. and moves KSPR to that building.

KY3 Inc. President and General Manager Mike Scott anticipates that both stations will be operating under the same roof by mid-2009.

"Now, we have a little better timeline of when we're going to exit the (KSPR) building, (and) we moved forward with this contract," Scott said. "I think it's a good fit for them. ... Obviously, we don't need the building, once we complete our new project. We're anxious to get everybody in the same building."

Ridder said one option for the Kraft site could be green space for Central High School.