Willson-Beardshear Auction Today

Ames Community Schools will auction Willson-Beardshear to the highest bidder 9 a.m. today, at the Crawford Educational Services Center.

Ames School Board members informally decided to auction the building at 900 Carroll Ave. in December. During the meeting, board members said that ACPC, a preschool and daycare had expressed an interest in the former school site.

The building will be auctioned as is and with its current zoning.

The starting bid for the 2.53 acre site and building has been set at $170,000.

The district began the process of auctioning and selling off its unused property after voters approved a $55 million bond project to construct three new elementary schools and renovate two others.

The district had been using Willson-Beardshear to house its technology department.

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.