There haven’t been any offers on the Kalispell School District’s auxiliary services building after 11 months on the market, Superintendent Darlene Schottle reported at a school board meeting last week.

The property at 514 E. Washington St. is listed for $350,000 and houses the district’s central supply department and print shop. Schottle said people have looked at the facility, but she asked the board to consider taking it off the market and continue using it as a central supply. She also asked trustees to reconsider selling property located at 33 Meridian Court.

The board opted to keep the auxiliary services building on the market while the district compiles a cost assessment on asbestos abatement and boiler replacement, both of which could enhance the building’s value.

When the auxiliary services building was put up for sale last spring, the district had intentions of consolidating and downsizing services in order to move them to a smaller warehouse located on the Meridian Court property.

“Originally when we wanted to sell it, we didn’t think we were going to fully utilize it. What we found is we’re still using this building to the full capacity. We’re still using it for a clearinghouse for custodial supplies, for paper, the print shop is incredibly busy and could probably even expand,” Schottle said.

“What we’re thinking is, we can’t move this building into the Meridian property and still maintain those levels of service.”

The annual cost to operate the 7,840-square-foot auxiliary services building is $14,000. Current operation costs for the 3,400-square-foot Meridian Street warehouse are roughly $2,000.

Schottle noted that both properties have costs involved in their renovation or repair, depending on what the board decides to do.

The auxiliary services building has issues with asbestos and an inefficient heating system with an aging boiler. Both problems have scared away potential buyers, said board Chairman Tom Clark.

“If we get rid of asbestos and the boiler, we’ll increase the value of the property, or save money by dropping the heating bill,” Clark said.

The cost assessment on asbestos abatement and a boiler replacement that the trustees commissioned Tuesday will help them decide what to do with the building.

Although auxiliary services cannot be moved to the Meridian property at its current size, trustees decided for the second time to hold onto the Meridian Court property and investigate other uses for the warehouse.

“I still want to keep this discussion in front of us,” Schottle said. “We’re still not fully utilizing that building.”

Clark said purchasing the Meridian property was a “big mistake.” It was initially purchased as the site of a new central kitchen. When renovation estimates exceeded anticipated costs, and it was ascertained the building was too small to use as a kitchen, the idea was abandoned.

A bond issue was later passed to build a kitchen near Kalispell Middle School.

Currently the warehouse is being used for storage. Schottle said about $17,000 could be invested to turn the warehouse into maintenance and information technology offices. Those offices are currently scattered in different buildings throughout the district.

“We can put money into it to make it useful so that we actually can have our maintenance shop and/or part of our IT department working out of it, but that’s going to take a commitment,” Schottle said.

Trustee Anna Marie Bailey was positive about that idea, because maintenance and information technology would be located in close proximity to many of the school buildings.

“It’s close and we own it,” Bailey said.

Trustee Don Murray added that if the building were to be sold at a loss, there was no compelling reason to sell it. In August, trustees passed on listing the Meridian property for $95,000 under its purchase price.

Trustee Frank Miller also was hesitant to sell district-owned properties too soon.

“I’ve never seen us have too much building. We’ve always been struggling to find enough room,” Miller said. “I don’t think we should be in a big hurry to divest ourselves.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.