"Senior housing crossed my mind, combined with assisted living. We have eight acres we can play with." Jean Makesh
Many area residents who attended the auction of Ledgemont High School Oct. 10 might have felt the cold, rainy weather was appropriate.
For several years, the school district had been operating under a threatening financial cloud — until this year, when its students and much of the staff found their way under the umbrella of Berkshire Schools through a transfer of territory that washed away the district’s insurmountable debt.
While dozens of people hoping to purchase mementos of Ledgemont High School last Saturday crowded the auction block, Jean Makesh quietly won the bid for the 51,356-square-foot school and 8.8 acres of land for $95,000.
Finally, the sun may be coming out.
Makesh, CEO of Lantern of Madison in Madison Township, said Tuesday he anticipates turning the school into a memory care unit for people with Alzheimer’s disease and may expand that concept into an assisted living/senior living facility.
“Senior housing crossed my mind, combined with assisted living. We have 8 acres we can play with,” he said.
Another possibility would be to make it into a rehabilitation center for his other facilities. Lantern in Madison, which he bought in 2006, has been helping Alzheimer’s patients with a program he has developed called svayus.
Makesh said he has two other similar facilities under construction — one in South Russell Village and another in Saybrook Township in Ashtab-ula County, which should be finished this year.
Ledgemont High School was mothballed a year ago, when secondary school classes were moved to the elementary school. However, it has been well maintained and Makesh said he will continue to do so until he can rustle up about $1 million or more to renovate it.
That sounds good to Thompson Township Trustee Erwin Leffel, who wasn’t able to attend the auction.
“This could be really good. Some reputable person bought it,” he said Tuesday, adding he hopes it won’t remain vacant.
As an empty building, the high school could have become a liability to Berkshire Schools, he said.
“I talked to Jean Makesh and I’m pretty impressed,” he said. “Something good may come out of it.”
The school district was troubled for so long, a lot of residents have been concerned the school, full of memories, would be bought and left empty.
But Cindy Lausin, township fiscal officer, said she didn’t see a lot of distress among the auction-goers.
“I think it was kinda like closure. The high school won’t just be sitting there reminding you of what it was,” she said.
It took a while for Dan O’Reilly to auction off the left-over contents of the school, but Lausin said the bidding for the high school and acreage took about 15 minutes once it started.
“I went to the auction because I wanted to know who was going to buy it,” she said, adding she was surprised, since she has lived in the district for about 30 years, that there were so many people there she didn’t know.
Lausin said she thinks one reason anyone would buy the huge building is because the township recently had a wastewater treatment plant installed so the property can be of use.
“Now it’s a matter of if he can see it through,” she said, adding the first major expense will be hooking up to the sewer system.
Makesh said getting the building at a good price is a real plus for his plans.
“I like the building a lot. I first saw it in February,” he said Tuesday. But the assessed value was $170,000 and when he realized there were four other bidders, he was a little worried.
The bidding opened, however, at around $30,000, he said, so the project looks to be affordable.
His work in Madison helping Alzheimer’s patients battle memory loss have been successful, but more work is needed in order to satisfy the medical world his svayus technique is proven, Makesh said.
“The program is a little expensive,” he said.
The Alzheimer’s work in Madison is a model for what he wants to do, but he said he wants it to be more affordable. Using local resources in Saybrook and Thompson townships may make that happen, Makesh said.
“People are still unable to afford (the program),” he said. “We want to get to a price point where we can make svayus available in a small community.”
Makesh said he anticipates starting the high school remodel next year, so in the next month, he will make sure it is ready for the winter weather.
