The Mobile County school board took up two separate property sale matters involving former school sites at its January 2015 work session, part of an ongoing effort to convert vacant campuses into revenue for the district.
Board members reviewed a letter of intent from Hix Snedeker Companies LLC to purchase the roughly 3-acre site of the former Crichton Elementary School, located off Spring Hill Avenue, for $500,000. The Crichton school building itself was demolished in the late 1990s, and Tommy Sheffield, the school system’s facilities director, described the now-vacant property as attractive for commercial development given its location.
The board also had on its agenda a sales contract tied to the former Augusta Evans Special School property at 100 W. Florida St. in Mobile. The board had voted back in October 2014 to accept a $1,550,000 offer for the roughly 8-acre site from MAB Acquisitions, a Delaware-based company, with local developer John Vallas handling the transaction.
Both items were scheduled for discussion at the board’s work session, held at the school system’s central office at the corner of Schillinger and Howells Ferry roads, ahead of a possible vote at a subsequent board meeting later in the month.
The sales reflect a broader pattern among South Alabama school systems of shedding underused or vacant properties as enrollment patterns shift and older buildings become too costly to maintain or renovate. For Mobile County, converting sites like the former Augusta Evans and Crichton campuses into private commercial development can generate one-time revenue for the district while also returning the parcels to the local tax rolls once they change hands from a public entity to a private owner.
Neither the Augusta Evans nor Crichton properties had been used for active school operations for years prior to the proposed sales, and both transactions underscore how Mobile County continues to manage a real estate footprint shaped by decades of school consolidations and campus closures. The board’s willingness to entertain competing offers and letters of intent also signals continued developer interest in commercial parcels within the city of Mobile, even for sites tied to older, now-demolished school buildings.
Residents interested in following the board’s decisions on these and other facilities matters were encouraged to monitor upcoming Mobile County school board meeting agendas for final votes on both property transactions.