NEENAH (NBC 26) — On June 19th, the Neenah school board voted to sell Shattuck Middle School to an Oshkosh-based developer. NorthPointe Development is planning to turn the school and surrounding property into mixed-family housing.
Some neighbors of the school are not pleased with this plan.
“We bought this house because it was across the street from the school and the ball fields, and we love the home and the neighborhood so we're disappointed that’s going to be changing so much,” said Angelo, a resident of the neighborhood.
Community members have created a petition against the plan.
Angelo is planning on moving his family away from the neighborhood because of the development.
“We’re just really concerned about jamming that many people in such an area and changing the character of the neighborhood. We’re actually going to be moving from this house in a month because of all these factors with the school,” said Angelo.
School board president, Brian Epley, said there were many factors that led the district to this decision. The estimated cost to tear down the building was around $2 million, and it would cost the district about $300,000 per year to maintain it.
“We thought we were better served to spend the money elsewhere and build new construction,” said Epley.
NorthPointe Development wants to keep the exterior of the building the same to preserve the historical element, and the neighborhood is grateful for that.
“I’m glad to see it re-purposed. It's a nice, old building that was unfortunately left to decay,” said Angelo.
A new high school will be completed for the 2023 school year, the middle school will be moved to the old high school building and Shattuck will no longer be used by the district. NorthPointe Development is working with the city to finalize its plans.
