Town Hopes Foss School's Buyer Uses It to 'Help Community'

The town of Salem almost got full value Thursday for the dilapidated Mary Foss School, as it sold for $309,000 during a fairly active public auction.

Town Manager Keith Hickey said Elias Kanj was the winning bidder for the vacant 89-year-old school building, which has an assessed value of $410,000.

Thursday's bidding started at $150,000. Hickey said roughly half a dozen individuals traded bids during a flurry of activity before Kanj and another bidder upped the cost in $1,000 increments, eventually ending with Kanj's winning $309,000 bid.

Hickey said the town is "happy" with the final sale price, and he said officials "look forward to seeing what the winning bidder does" with the Foss School building.

"I think the property has served the school district and the town well over the years," said Hickey, who spoke with the Kanj but didn't get into the man's intentions for the structure. "We just don’t have a need to own the property anymore, and we hope that the future owner utilizes the space in a way that helps the salem community."

Additional information about Kanj wasn't available Thursday afternoon. 

Kanj has until Dec. 2 — a period of 45 days — to close on the property, the sale of which was overwhelmingly approved at the 2013 town meeting. The warrant article for the sale, which stated all funds raised would be used to reduce the tax rate, passed 4,730 to 581.

Maintenance issues and a variety of crumbling structural features led the town to seek a sale of the building, which was constructed in 1924.

Before its recent closure, Foss School housed Salem's Human Services department as well as Rockingham Community Action, Greater Salem Caregivers and Servicelink.