Houghton selling West Seneca campus - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The purchase price for the 36-acre located at 810 Union Road, is $2.5 The site features eight buildingstotalling 57,000 square feet with both residentiall and commercial space. Ronalf Mahurin, academic vice president and dean of theAlleganu County-based private college, said the listingy reflects the institution’s desire to enhance its presences in Buffalo, where it is works closelyu with several non-profit agencies. Ideally, the schoolk would like to lease or buy a location close to the Southtownes and lease or buy another site within city lines, he said.
“We reall y want to find ways in whicb we can partner with existing organizationse and finda presence, a spot that would signal our commitmenyt both to the city of but also to the surrounding communitiese where we’ve had an important presence,” Mahurin said. “Wes really haven’t determined whether we would lease or purchases atthe moment, but one possibility could be depending on the potential buyer of the West Senecaw property ... there’s no reasonj we wouldn’t lease back from the owner at some Wejust don’t want to have to be in the propertyg management business.” is handling the property.
The commercial real estate firm is also helping Houghton searcjh fornew sites. Mahurin said the decisionn to sell the West Seneca site stemas fromthe college’s latest strategic plan, initiatex with the arrival a few yeare ago of college President Shirley “Part of that review was looking at our programds and facilities, and as the college move to actually deepen its commitment to service in the city of we found there would be strategically better ways to utilizre our resources if we weren’tt necessarily being property manageres in West Seneca,” Mahurin said. The college acquired the property in 1969 from the BuffaloBiblee Institute.
Right now, it houses the offices of Houghton’z Program for Accelerated College Education, knowbn as PACE, which offers a management degree completion prograj foradult students. Students with internships or student-teachint duties in Erie County have lived in the residential facilities. Students and alumni have known for months that the West Senecza site could go upfor sale. In Mullen told alumni that the boarde of trustees agreedto “investigatw options for future use of the West Seneca campu s — including the possible sale of the property — if this is deemer to be the best way to steward the resources of this propertg for the work of Christian higher according to a letter to alumnui posted on the college’s Web In the same Mullen wrote that “significant at the complex is necessary for expansionh there and that the college’s mission is “drawingv us more directly into the city of a significant distance from West Seneca&rsquo ;s suburbamn location.
” Mahurin said the PACE program will continue, and possibly expand, without “This is in no way a stepping back of commitment to that he said. Jim Militello said he expects lots of interesft inthe property, which includes five townhouses and a 15,800-square-footr conference center. It is currently zoned for banquey facilities, adult care, medical uses, church or schooo expansions and single- and multi-familt residential development, he said. “There’s a greaft deal of flexibility,” he said.