Neenah school board approves extension for Shattuck Middle School offer

Larry Gallup and Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent
·2 min read

NEENAH - The Neenah school board will allow a developer more time to secure city approval for a plan to redevelop the 27-acre Shattuck Middle School property, the board announced Friday.

In a closed session Thursday, the board approved an amendment to a previously accepted $500,000 purchase offer from Northpointe Development of Oshkosh that extends the offer's contingencies until Jan. 31, with an option to extend them another 90 days after that.

Northpointe planned to buy the Shattuck property and redevelop the school as 89 workforce apartments and the rest of the land as 49 single-family homes. It also offered to donate four acres to the city for development as a public park.

Northpointe's plan, however, was stopped Dec. 7 when the council denied its rezoning request under pressure from the surrounding neighborhood.

Immediately after the vote, Andy Dumke, co-owner of Northpointe, said he would walk away from the Shattuck property and let the school district seek another buyer. But he had the option to ask for an extension.

An updated conceptual plan for the redevelopment of the Shattuck Middle School property in Neenah shows 89 apartments and 49 single-family homes.
An updated conceptual plan for the redevelopment of the Shattuck Middle School property in Neenah shows 89 apartments and 49 single-family homes.

Northpointe already had scaled back its plans to appease neighborhood concerns. Specifically, it:

  • Reduced the maximum number of apartments in the Shattuck school building from 100 to 89.

  • Eliminated 16 duplex units

  • Eliminated 16 townhome units.

  • Increased the number of single-family homes from 36 to 49.

  • Increased the size of the greenspace from 2.9 acres to 4.1 acres and offered to donate the land to the city for a park

The school board also received an offer for the property from Neenah resident Tamara Hasz. Her offer was the same as Northpointe's offer, she said, but without any rezoning contingency.

If Hasz were to buy the property, she promised to listen to the community before deciding what to do with it. Housing was a likely option, she said, but it wouldn't be rental properties, which was one of the concerns of the neighborhood.

The school board said it took no action on Hasz’s offer and asked her to provide more details about her plans.

Shattuck Middle School will become vacant in June because the school district is building a $171 million high school in Fox Crossing and will turn the existing high school on Tullar Road into a middle school for grades 5-8 starting with the 2023-24 school year.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Neenah school board OKs extension for Shattuck Middle School offer