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Date: 9/28/2022
GRANVILLE — The former West Granville School has been sold to Granville residents who are exploring options to refurbish it and possibly build a senior living facility.
Forrest and Nina Devine were the winning bidders for the West Granville School in a Sept. 21 public auction featuring several parcels of land in Granville. They bid $50,000 for the schoolhouse, which closed in 1989 and has since been the subject of multiple Town Meeting votes to demolish the building or sell the 13 Beech Hill Rd. property.
Forrest Devine said after the auction that he and his wife had sought to purchase the property in the past. They live in the same neighborhood, and Devine said they are hoping to secure grant funding from the state to build a senior living facility, though he said they are not 100 percent sure what they plan to do with it yet. Devine works in construction, and he said they first will need to give the building an overhaul due to how heavily it has deteriorated.
“It will be a long process,” said Devine.
Granville Town Administrator Matthew Streeter said the original West Granville School structure is partially structurally sound, though parts of the floor have caved in, and the roof of the addition constructed in the 1960s has also caved in.
Because the property is zoned as Agricultural-Residential, Streeter said the parcel would not be able to house a business, and would probably be best suited for a home or an apartment building.
Auctioneers from Zekos Group lead the auction, which included six other properties throughout Granville: 21.8 acres of vacant land at 574 South Lane; two separate vacant parcels of 2.1 acres each on North Lane; 1.17 acres of vacant land on Barnard Road; 43,560 square feet of vacant land on Crest Lane; and 41,750 square feet of vacant land on Beech Hill Road.
Streeter said that all seven properties sold in the Sept. 21 auction, for a total of $243,500.