TEXARKANA, Texas -- The Texarkana Independent School District is hoping to soon reach an agreement regarding the former Pine Street Junior High School campus to avoid going to trial.
In a board meeting Wednesday, TISD trustees will consider a resolution authorizing Superintendent Dr. Doug Brubaker to sign a possession and use agreement related to the acquisition of the property at 1915 Pine Street. If the district can soon reach an agreement to repurchase the property from Old School Lofts Joint Ventures, managed by Dallas-based developer John Stone, the resolution would authorize Brubaker to sign it.
TISD Attorney John Mercy said if the district is unable to reach an agreement with Stone, the matter will likely go to trial in September of 2022.
"I'm hopeful that we can work it," he said. "We're going to keep talking to them, and hopefully we can work it out to where it doesn't go to trial. But if it does, it does."
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In September 2021, TISD began the process of attempting to acquire the property by eminent domain after unsuccessful attempts to agree upon a price with Stone to purchase it.
During a March 2022 hearing, a panel of special commissioners appointed by the Bowie County Court at Law determined an appraised value of $167,000 for the property.
Stone and his attorney Justin Hodge filed an objection to this valuation shortly after.
"If they would've accepted it, it would've been over at that point," Mercy said.
The district is now trying to work out an agreement where Stone and his group will let TISD have the property.
The Texarkana Gazette made an attempt to reach Stone and his attorney Justin Hodge on Tuesday, but received no response by presstime.
The building on this property formerly served as the district's high school campus, before becoming Pine Street Junior High School in 1967. The last class for the property was held in 1996.
Stone acquired the campus in a land swap with TISD in 2005. Stone also owns the long-vacant McCartney Hotel in downtown Texarkana.
At the time he bought the Pine Street property, Stone proposed a plan for senior loft apartments, among other potential uses. These plans never came to fruition.
In January 2014, the property was approved for a historical designation by the Texas Historic Commission. The National Register of Historic Places approved the historical designation in March 2014, despite efforts from Texarkana, Texas, City Council members to prevent it from happening.
Stone spoke to the Gazette in August 2021, saying he looked toward getting the property listed on the National Register to prevent the district from tearing the building down. He said it would take a clawback provision from the district that they would never tear down the historical buildings for him to consider another offer.
If purchased successfully, TISD will consider potentially demolishing the property's buildings and look toward building a new school foundation. If there is any part of the property that can be salvaged, that proposition will also be considered, Mercy said.
Texarkana Independent School District attorney John Mercy walks to his seat while speaking to special commissioners, from left, Ben Franks, Dennis Lewis and John Nutt, during a March 2022 property valuation hearing in New Boston, Texas. The hearing was the latest stage in a process initiated by TISD to repurchase the district's abandoned Pine Street Junior High campus from Old School Lofts Joint Ventures, managed by Dallas-based developer John Stone. The commissioners were appointed by Bowie County Court at Law. (Staff photo by Andrew Bell)