The Wantagh School District’s Board of Education has decided to sell one of its buildings.
The board has decided to put the district-owned Beech Street property, located at 1865 Beech St., up for sale.
According to the district, the 121-year-old building was most recently leased to Wee Friends Nursery for use as a preschool and summer day camp. Since the lease ended in August 2024, the building has remained vacant and needs significant and costly repairs.
The board held a planning session on June 17 to discuss options for the district’s use of the property.
A presentation from the meeting said the sale would generate one-time revenue that could be used to offset some of the district’s current capital projects.
Other discussed options included repairing and renovating the building in its existing form and continuing to lease the property as a daycare facility, or renovating the building, bringing it up to code and using it to house additional classes for the district’s universal pre-kindergarten program.
The district said many aspects of the property needed to be addressed, regardless of its decision. The district did not say how much the renovations to the building would cost, but it would be expensive and would take up to 10 years to recoup the funds from annual lease rental fees.
The presentation said the building would allow for four additional classrooms, with a maximum occupancy of 68 students, if it were to be used as a pre-kindergarten space.
The district said that once a buyer is found and all legal and contractual requirements are fulfilled, it will set up a public referendum for Wantagh residents to vote on the sale.
According to the NY Heritage, the property originally housed a school building constructed in 1904 to serve early Wantagh students. Five years later, that building was replaced with a larger elementary school, which remained in use until 1958.
The building was then used as a district administration office until 1982.
The district said that in 1979, the back half of the property was sold to Terra Homes for $36,000 and two homes were constructed on Plymouth Road. The current property measures 2,463 square feet.
