ACPC Buys Willson-Beardshear From Ames School District

ACPC a local childcare, was the sole bidder for the Ames Community School District's Willson-Beardshear building Friday.

Ames School Board members informally decided to auction the building at 900 Carroll Ave. in December.

The starting bid for the 2.53 acre site and building had been set at $170,000 and it sold for that amount. The final sale will have to be approved at a future school board meeting.

The district once used the building for early childhood education until Northwood opened in 2009. And ACPC Board President Todd Tjaden said they hope to open the building by fall.

“There are a few things, like a kitchen and exits, we need to address to be up to code,” Tjaden said in a release from the district, “otherwise it’s a perfect space we can use ‘as is’ with the goal of being open in the fall, and maybe being ready for some summer programs.”

This will be the third sale of land by the school district in recent months. The district has auctioned off its former middle school as well as undeveloped land in the Somerset neighborhood once marked for an elementary school.

Shuttered Roosevelt Elementary School is also on the “for sale” list. That school closed in 2005, but is on the National Registry of Historic Places and bidders have 30 days to provide the district with their best offers.