Schools

Ferndale School Board OKs Purchase Agreement for Hayes Lemmerz site

City was unaware of the progress on the deal for the 34-acre property on Eight Mile and would rather have property stay on tax rolls.

The Ferndale School Board unanimously passed a purchase agreement for the nearly 34-acre vacant Hayes Lemmerz property at the corner of Eight Mile and Pinecrest, south of .

"We've reached a purchase agreement in principal and we've agreed on a price of $950,000," Ferndale Schools Superintendent Gary Meier told the board at a special meeting Monday.

However, the property is a brownfield site and the environmental issues are the biggest question mark. The purchase agreement gives the district 90 days to perform an environmental study on the land that could cost up to $125,000.

"We have reasons to be optimistic," said John Carlson, the school board's attorney. "The price is very good. It's a large industrial site with environment issues.  … We have 90 days to do our due diligence on the land." In 2007, when the property was first put on the market, it was listed for $7.9 million.

Eight Mile and Pinecrest was once home to a division of the Tier 1 auto supplier Hayes Lemmerz that manufactured rims and wheels for cars, trains and trucks, as well as transportation components and systems (windshield wipers, defrosting and defogging systems, etc.). Hayes Lemmerz pulled out in 2006. Prior to that, Ethyl Corps. occupied the parcel from 1940 to the mid-1980s.

Carlson said the environmental study will go step-by-step and the district has the ability to pull out of the agreement within those 90 days. "This is the clearest opt-out language you can have," he said.  "For any reasons, determined at the sole discretion of the board that this isn't going to work, you can put an end to it right then."

There is a $25,000 deposit on the agreement. If the district does decide to pull out, the deposit will be returned but any money spent on the environmental study will not.

If the purchase goes through, renovation of the property has been estimated at $7.5 million, according to .

There are 18 structures on the site. "The main building is in great shape," said Bill Weinrauch of TMP Architecture Inc. "The windows (don't) need replacing, the roof is a rubber membrane and is easily (repairable). … Some of the other buildings are repairable, some are good, and some need to come down."

Possible opportunities for Hayes Lemmerz site

Meier said by purchasing the Hayes Lemmerz property, the district could consolidate the alternative education programs under one roof, as well as offer more classes to more students. Currently, alternative education is spread out over three sites: the , and the satellite site at in Southfield.

"This would allow us to consolidate the programs and free up some of those facilities," Meier said. "We might want to move into Taft. It gives us an opportunity to create a revenue stream. Maybe we charter a school (in one of the empty buildings)."

Meier said that moving the Crossroads students to the Hayes Lemmerz property would save about $250,000 from leasing the Southfield classrooms. Meier also said that the property could house the , freeing up money from leasing its current spot on Nine Mile.

"There are any number of things we could do. … There are no definite decisions, but it's something we've talked about," Meier said.

Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Purchase agreement was news to the city

If the school district purchases the Hayes Lemmerz property, it will come off the city's tax rolls. The purchase agreement was news to the city.

"(City Hall) thought this was a dead issue," Ferndale Interim City Manager Mark Wollenweber said. "We don't like anything that pulls property off the tax rolls. We'd like to keep this on the tax rolls and see another industry go in there."

Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Wollenweber said he has talked to Meier on the phone but the two have yet to meet. He said Hayes Lemmerz brings in about $149,000 in tax revenue. The city portion of that is $50,000, $4,400 goes to the Ferndale Public Library and about $55,000 to the school district, the remainder goes to the county and various other taxing authorities.

Former Ferndale City Manager Bob Bruner, now the city manager for Birmingham, said he spoke with Meier early in the fall about the district's desire to purchase the Hayes Lemmerz property. "I told him there was nothing the city could do to stop him, but taking a piece of property that size off the tax roll would be a big hit," Bruner said. "I don't think we talked about it again."

Bruner was Ferndale City Manager from February 2007 to February 2011.

During the years Bruner worked in Ferndale, the property wasn't highly sought, he said. He said one man came in with a serious inquiry about the site and there was talk about Garden Fresh Salsa maybe expanding there, but in the end, there wasn't serious movement. "There were a few nibbles here and there," he said, "but nothing that came to fruition."

A purchase agreement is far from a done deal, Bruner pointed out. "A purchase agreement doesn't always end in a purchase," he said.

Correction: In a previous version of this story, it stated that the windows and the roof for the main building needed replacing. The Windows do not need replacing and the roof needs only to be repaired, not replaced.


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