Southampton School Board Approves Proposition To Buy Building For District Offices; Community Will Cast Vote In May

Come May, residents of the Southampton Union Free School District will vote on whether to approve the $4.9 million purchase of a building that would serve as a centralized office and resource center for the district — a move that officials said would come at no additional cost to taxpayers.

Funds to buy the 12,000-square-foot building and adjacent parking lot, located at 300 and 310 Hampton Road, would be taken from a 2009 community-approved capital reserve fund, earmarked for the district office and bus garage. Its current $9 million balance would cover the purchase in full.

The Southampton School Board unanimously signed off on adding the proposition to the ballot for the May 17 school budget vote and School Board election following a presentation on Tuesday night by Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Dyno.

“The location is absolutely perfect,” he said, later adding, “The owner is looking to sell now. I think if we don’t do it now, it’s not going to happen in that facility.”

This is not the first time that the district has pitched the purchase of 300 and 310 Hampton Road, which are adjacent to the intermediate school and within walking distance of the high school, for use as a centralized office to the public, Dyno explained.

In 2016, voters shot down a proposition that would have bought the same two parcels for $7.6 million, he reported, followed by another failed proposition in 2018 that proposed the $5.2 million purchase of a smaller piece of property on Narrow Lane. The community raised concerns over increased traffic, the disruption of some of the fields that would need to be converted to parking, and a potential negative impact on property values of neighboring homes, Dyno said.

With two failed bond requests, a district office committee was formed to look at alternate solutions. Ideas ranged from utilizing existing space to building on the intermediate school campus, which would either displace some fifth and sixth grade classrooms, the girls softball field, or the arboretum.

To buy some time, the district entered a five-year lease agreement for administrative office space on County Road 39A in November 2018, which was extended an additional five years via a proposition during last year’s budget vote. For 2023, the annual rental fee of nearly $250,000 that the district currently pays is included in the proposed annual budget.

By removing the fee, the district would either reallocate that money to student programming, or reduce the budget by that amount, Dyno said. The current lease for the rental space has a provision that allows for an early exit.

“Earlier this year, I learned that 300-310 Hampton Road was for sale again, it was on the market again,” Dyno said. “At this point now, the tenants had left the building — it’s now a vacant building, the owner is no longer using the building and is really interested to sell.”

Although the building is currently listed for $5.3 million — which is still significantly less than the negotiated price from 2016, Dyno pointed out — the district was able to talk down the price to $4.9 million for the building on 1.75 acres.

The purchase would, ultimately, guarantee increased instructional space and the preservation of the arboretum and softball field, maintain grade configuration in each building, allow for additional parking spaces that can be used during events at the intermediate school, and move the district administration closer to the schools, the superintendent said.

At the $4.9 million price, the sale would work out to be a little over $400 per square foot, as compared to $500 to $1,000 per square foot for a new build — which would cost between $6 million and $12 million for a similar building — plus the price of the land.

Currently, an acre in Southampton Village ranges from $2 million to $4 million, Dyno reported, which would add an additional $3.5 million to $7 million to buy a parcel to build anew — which seems counterintuitive when the building at 300-310 Hampton Road is already outfitted as an office.

“It does look like an old Victorian home in the front and it has an addition. That’s this modern office facility attached to the building,” Dyno said, adding, “Most of the layout are open areas, so cubicles can be put in, or easily constructed office spaces can be made. There are some partitions to divide some of the space, but very little remodeling would be needed to the facility.”

During public comments, two community members spoke in favor of the purchase, one going so far as to say, “It’s perfect,” adding, “If you vote for it, then we’ll vote for it.”

Following the School Board’s approval, the proposition to approve the sale on the May 17 ballot would allow the funding to be released from the capital reserve, and then forums would be scheduled to answer any questions from the community, Dyno said.