Redondo Unified School District’s Knob Hill property to go out to bid, again
The Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday night tentatively moved to send the former school property at 320 Knob Hill out to bid.
The Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday night tentatively moved to send the former school property at 320 Knob Hill out to bid.
The district hopes to garner new lease revenue from the site and has at least one interested bidder, Fountain Square West, a senior housing developer that specializes in assisted living facilities designed for residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory loss disabilities.
“There’s been ups and downs [in regards to] interest in the Knob Hill property,” said RBUSD Superintendent Steven Keller. “Of late, there has been renewed interest.”
The property was declared surplus by a district committee in 2007, at which time its appraised lease value was $1.1 million annually. The city formerly rented the property for $253,000 annually. Several factors – including the passage of Measure DD, requiring a citywide vote on zoning changes, and the subsequent collapse of the real estate market – have hampered the district’s attempts to find new lease revenue.
320 Knob Hill
In 2010, the school board lowered its minimum bid to $500,000 and subsequently rejected a $405,000 bid by a developer associated with Whole Foods markets. Earlier this year, the district walked away from negotiations with a Christian high school that had successfully bid $528,000 but then was unable to prove its financial wherewithal.
On Tuesday night, Jim Minton, representing Fountain Square West, urged the board to seriously consider the developer as a potential bidder. He said a senior living facility would have less impact on the surrounding neighborhood than its previous uses as a school and community center, and emphasized that Fountain Square has the financial means to proceed.
“We are quite serious with this – we know what we are doing, and we feel this situation is ideal for what we are talking about, which is a senior residential care facility,” Minton said.
Minton and other executives from Fountain Square West previously worked with Sunrise Senior Living, which has other senior housing facilities locally. Minton said after the meeting that the proposed development would be up to 70 percent open space.
320 Knob Hill
Kelly Martin, who leads the Knob Hill Community Group, praised Sunrise and noted her own grandmother was a resident in one of its facilities. But she said the neighboring community is nonetheless opposed to such a development, preferring that it remain as a school or possibly be sold as single-family residential lots.
“We still feel there are lots of school age children west of PCH who need a school,” Martin said.
The board unanimously agreed to direct staff to bring a draft request for proposals back for consideration at the Dec. 13 meeting. ER