Part Two: The Potential of the Hayes Lemmerz Site

During the past six years, the Ferndale School District has looked at four buildings for the purpose of consolidating Ferndale's alternative and adult education program, said Gary Sophiea, the district's director of operations.

The potential purchase of the Hayes Lemmerz site would be a continuation of the district's effort to consolidate this program. "We've been looking for some time to consolidate our alternative education program," Meier said.

Currently, there are 1,000 alternative and adult education students, who are split into three buildings: , the and classrooms leased on the . Sophiea said consolidating the alternative and adult education students under one roof would only improve the program.

"We'd be able to offer so much more and better programming," he said.

There would also be cost-saving benefits. By pulling the students out of the Crossroads facility, the school district would save about $250,000 a year in lease money — the Crossroads lease expires in 2012.

Sophiea said the Crossroads facility also isn't very conducive to the students. "There's no cafeteria. There is a Coney Island next door, but no cafeteria. The classrooms are in the basement, there are no windows," Sophiea said about the Crossroads campus.

Ferndale Superintendent Gary Meier said the district also would look into moving the from its current location on Nine Mile Road to the Hayes Lemmerz site, which would save the district about $100,000 a year in lease money.

Looking at the revenue side of the ledger

"In order to move forward with a stable district as a whole, we have to look at revenue," Meier said. "We have to look at the revenue side of the ledger, not just the expenses."

Purchasing the Hayes Lemmerz site would offer the district several options that could create extra revenue streams, he said. Consolidating the alternative and adult education program at Hayes Lemmerz would free up Jefferson and Taft. Meier said the district would like to move out of its current building into Taft, since Taft has a full cafeteria. This would free up the current UHS building. Meier said the district then would have the ability to charter a school, which would create a new revenue stream, or free up other space for the community.

"We would create space and eliminate some cost," Meier said. "We'd make some strategic moves that are good for the kids and the district."

The location of the Hayes Lemmerz property also presents a revenue opportunity. Meier said owning the land from Eight Mile to the high school could present opportunities to offer services to the community or municipalities. There could be opportunities to share bus maintenance facilities for multiple districts, offer facilities for mechanic work for the city or Department of Public Works and storage for salt or mulch, among other things.

"This does offer potential, and we're going to explore all of that potential," Meier said.

Meier also mentioned that the district is preliminarily exploring opportunity to partner with universities or hospitals in some capacities. Since the district is still doing its due diligence on Hayes Lemmerz, all of these ideas are still just ideas, he said.