McKinley Elementary School owners contest valuation, plan to tear down part of building

PARKERSBURG -- In reviewing the property value placed on the former McKinley Elementary School Monday, Wood County officials were told part of the building will be torn down.

An objection was raised Monday over the valuation of the building, at 1130 19th St. in Parkersburg, as the county commissioners sat as the Board of Equalization and Review.

The school building was bought at auction in May 2021 for $165,000 by the Astorg family, who owns Astorg Auto.

During Monday's hearing, Bob Astorg, acting as an agent of the owners of the property, contested the property's valuation. Officials said this is the first such objection to reach the commission in seven years.

During the hearing, Astorg indicated there are plans to tear down the building with the exception of the gym and the cafeteria, which houses a youth sports facility.

In a post made Monday afternoon on the Early Parkersburg WV and Surrounding Area Facebook group, Seve Astorg addressed the plans for the property to the community.

"We purchased the McKinley school building at auction in an effort (to) ensure that the property was moving in a positive direction," the post said. "Since then we have invested over $200,000 into the gym and cafeteria portion of the building, providing a foundation for a youth sports facility that is now home to the Parkersburg Cougar Wrestling club."

They announced plans to demolish a modular office they said was being used by homeless people for drug abuse. Afterward, they went to work on the main building, but found structural issues that have been there for many years.

"It was extremely disappointing that the structure had deteriorated to the point of falling in rendering the building beyond saving," Seve Astorg wrote. "We remain committed to moving this property in a positive direction and plan on expanding on our youth sports facility, building an all sports complex for our area's youth.

"… Attempting to repair the building is financially not possible. We understand the Parkersburg community is passionate about our historical buildings and it is unfortunate that we are in this position.''

The Wood County Assessor's Office confirmed the building was sold for $165,000.

The assessed amount was at $250,000. Bob Astorg said he went to the Assessor's Office and they re-evaluated it for around $170,000 assessed value.

Wood County Assessor David Nohe said a property is assessed at 60% of the appraised value. Schools, when they are owned by the board of education, are not assessed for tax purposes, but Nohe said they still have to assign a school a value.

When it was a school it had a value of over $2 million for the acre-and-a-half it sits on. Nohe said once it entered private ownership, it eventually ended up assessed at $170,000 after his office looked at it.

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo asked Bob Astorg what he was wanting.

"My thinking is what he paid for at the auction ... and I thought that $160,000 was the fair market value for it," Bob Astorg said. "This makes the assessed value a little more than what he paid for it.

"I think the $160,000 is the true value."

Nohe said they can't find any comparable properties in order to bring the value down to that number. It would be up to the owner to present documents showing comparable properties valued at that amount.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch asked if the price paid should be considered in determining its value.

Nohe said the state does not allow them to use the sale price in determining assessed value.

Officials tried to compare it to a lot across the street at 1129 19th St. that used to be the location for Runyon's Lock Service and a tattoo shop, as well as adjacent residential structures at 1127 19th St. and 1907/1913 Dudley Ave. They were bought for a combined $120,886.27 by the City of Parkersburg's Urban Renewal Authority. Since it is now city property that changes how it is valued, Nohe said.

Bob Astorg confirmed there were plans in the works for the main part of the McKinley building to be torn down, excluding the gym and cafeteria. He did not have a date when it might be done.

Nohe said they had not heard about that. If it was torn down that would change the value of the property. Without the structures on it, it would be assessed at around $100,000 to $120,000.

"If they are going to tear it down, that makes it a whole different story," he said. "It would be expensive for them to tear it down."

Nohe said his staff has been working on the issue to see if anything could be done and did not know Bob Astorg was going to appear before the commission Monday.

"When someone buys a property like that we bend over backwards to try to help them," he said of the challenges of doing something with a property like that to make it valuable.

Colombo said a purchaser should not be penalized for trying to do something with a property like that.

"You should not really handicap a purchaser if the purchaser is going to make a better thing out of it," he said.

Commissioners have urged people to contact the Wood County Assessor's Office to talk over concerns about property valuations and have it resolved there.

Nohe reiterated that his office is willing to work with anyone to address their concerns, but said everyone still has the right to go to the commission if they feel they need to.

"It will be up to the commission now with what they want to do," he said.

The commission will review the case once the Board of Equalization and Review has concluded. Commissioners instructed the assessor's office to provide their documentation on the property for the value assessed and told Astorg to include any documentation he wants the commission to consider.

The Board of Equalization and Review will conclude at 3 p.m. Feb. 22.

Commissioners will meet after that, review the complaints and decide any action they might take.

Seve Astorg, in his Facebook post, said the property was not going to become another parking lot or car lot.

"… The gym and cafeteria will remain on the property and will be expanded into a north side youth sports facility that will service our area's youth sports initiatives,'' he wrote.

Astorg said people will likely try to "shame" the family for the planned demolition.

"… But when faced with the financial decision, we chose the best path we could to move the property in a positive direction for our community," he wrote.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com