By By JAN GRIFFEY / Niles Daily Star
NILES - If voters approve a millage to build a new high school in Niles, it will be located at the corner of Lake and Carberry streets.
Niles Community Schools Superintendent Doug Law said this morning the school board has completed negotiations for a two-year option on 68 acres located on the north side of Lake Street just west of Carberry.
The property is part of the Rose Estate and is owned by three siblings, Dorothy G. Cawley, who lives out of state, and Kenneth L. Rose and Sharon C. Griggs, both of Dowagiac.
Niles attorney Don Stone represented the school board in the negotiations.
Stone did not reveal to the family members who he was representing until last week, Law said.
The purchase price of the property will be $7,000 and acre. The sellers will receive a $10,000 advance payment. The school district and the sellers will share the closing costs.
Voters in the Niles Community Schools district go to the polls on Feb. 28, 2006, to decide on a seven-mill tax levy to support the construction of a new high school and other improvements to the district's facilities.
He said the Lake and Carberry property was the district's architect's first choice. No buildings are on the property and it is leased out for farming at present.
He said the committee actively pursued four different properties, one of which was Eastgate Shopping Center. However, to date, the school board representatives have been unable to get a response from Eastgate's owners.