Comtrea has agreed to sell its Bridle Ridge property to the Hillsboro R-3 School District for $990,000, according to officials with both Comtrea and the school district.
The Bridle Ridge property, 10533 Business 21, in Hillsboro, still known by many as the “Hall Farm,” includes 45 acres that surround the school district property.
Officials with Comtrea, a nonprofit health care organization, purchased Bridle Ridge from Diane Hall for $1.5 million in 2012 and then spent another $1.45 million renovating and enhancing the property.
The sale agreement between Comtrea and the Hillsboro School District was signed and finalized July 17, with a projected closing date of Sept. 3, officials reported.
The property, which includes the old Manor House, had been on the market for a year.
Hillsboro R-3 Superintendent Jon Isaacson said the school district will use the $400,001 it made on its recent sale of 56 acres on the north side of Hwy. A at Sandy Valley Road to help pay for the Bridle Ridge property.
“The funds from the Hwy. A property sale must be used for capital improvements that benefit the district,” he said. “By selling the (Hwy. A) property, the district will be able to put down $400,001 on the purchase of the Bridle Ridge property. This significantly reduces the payment and overall interest costs by an estimated $100,000, increasing the overall long-term return to approximately $500,000.”
Isaacson said the district could build a new school on the property, if needed in the future, as well as relocate the district’s administration office and maintenance facility there.
The Bridle Ridge property includes a barn and a pond, which the school district and community could use for therapeutic and learning opportunities, Isaacson said.
“We can use the barn now,” he said. “That barn has finished offices and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) restrooms.” He said the pond could be used immediately for educational and fishing opportunities.
“You could use it for water testing for science labs,” he said. “An agriculture class could use the pond.”
Isaacson also said the property conceivably could be used for equine therapy, if the district can develop “community partnerships” to help with the program.
“That would be on down the line,” he said.
When Comtrea bought the property seven years ago, the organization planned to operate an equine-assisted therapy and build a medical facility there, and equine therapy was held on the property for a while, but a medical building was never built.
So, Comtrea officials decided to sell the property, but they wanted to “maintain the iconic nature of the property,” and that goal was reached by selling the property to the school district, Comtrea CEO Sue Curfman said.
Curfman said Comtrea had several interested buyers who wanted to use the property for residential development, but the agency wanted to sell it to a party who would use it as it had been intended.
“The pond, barns and overall iconic nature and integrity of the property will be maintained with this sale,” she said.
Curfman said Comtrea leaders agreed to sell the property at a loss because their original plans for it did not work out, and they decided it would be more valuable to the school district and the Hillsboro community.
“We have to look at financial sustainability,” Curfman said. “When that purpose cannot be met, it only makes sense to sell the property. We feel it’s a mutually beneficial deal for the school district and Comtrea.”
Curfman said Comtrea’s original plans for the medical building on the property fell through for a number of reasons, including limited transportation options for clients from the Festus, Arnold and High Ridge areas. Also, there was no sustainable funding stream for the equine-assisted therapy
program.
She said the $990,000 purchase price will allow Comtrea to pay off its loan on the property and pay for the removal of the Manor House, which has asbestos and lead.
She said Comtrea already has hired a contractor to do the work.
Isaacson said in order for the district to have used the Hwy. A property it sold last month, it would have had to invest in bringing water, sewer and other utilities and infrastructure to the site.
The Bridle Ridge property, on the other hand, already has utilities, as well as infrastructure for parking and highway access if new buildings are constructed on it, he said.