Tension was palpable in the Cardinal A.J. Jordak Elementary School cafeteria June 7 as a crowd of nearly 100 waited for the start of the auction for the building and 5.5 acres.
Tension was palpable in the Cardinal A.J. Jordak Elementary School cafeteria June 7 as a crowd of nearly 100 waited for the start of the auction for the building and 5.5 acres.
Scott Mihalic, owner of Scott Mihalic Auctioneer of Chardon, took the microphone shortly after 11 a.m.
After half an hour of spirited bidding, he declared the winning bid of $2.2 million for the school and the total acreage on Pierce Street in Middlefield Village went to Anderson Ohman Sr. and Anderson Ohman Jr., of Ohman Family Living, which has headquarters in the village.
The announcement was met with a round of applause, although Mihalic warned the crowd in advance he could not declare the parcel “sold” until the Cardinal Schools Board of Education accepted the bid at a special meeting June 9.
Regardless, after the auction, Anderson Jr. said he and his father were very excited to have won.
“Hopefully it all sticks,” he said. “We have deep roots in this town and have plans for beautification and the growth of Middlefield Village.”
As people milled around congratulating the Ohmans, Mihalic, school officials, board members and board President Linda Smallwood were all smiles.
“I’m very pleased with the $2.2 million,” she said. “We’ll put it in the permanent improvement fund.”
When asked about projects being planned for the district, Smallwood said the junior/senior high school parking lot needs to be taken down to the base and entirely repaved.
Mihalic said in a phone interview June 9 there were 17 people registered to bid on the real estate.
By the time the bid hit $1.4 million, only four contenders were waiving their numbers, he said.
“It’s hard to put a value on anything,” the longtime auctioneer said when asked if $2.2 million was a fair price for the 47,473-square-foot building with 28 classrooms. “Some people thought the bid should have been higher, some thought lower. An auction tells you the real value. I believe the school district administration and the board of education were very happy with the price.”
Mihalic and his team sold more than 400 other lots during the early part of the auction that started at 9:05 a.m., including equipment and supplies from the garage on the property. Many Amish attended the event.
Happy bidders left with many items, including STOP signs, a $5 wheelbarrow and a well-used zero-turn lawn mower that sold for $1,800.
Tools, equipment and supplies inside the school were sold after the real estate auction, and all was said and done by 1 p.m., Mihalic said.
Somewhat surprising was the winning bid of $500 for a planetarium model, he said, adding buyers were still collecting their items on Monday.
The auction for the school and property was broken into three parts.
The first round of bidding started with just the school on about 2 acres and the top bid was $225,000. The 2.5 acre parcel to the east of the school brought a bid of $100,000.
The final, winning $2.2-million bid included the entire 5.5-acre parcel, which has not been divided, as well as the school.
