ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners voted to buy the former Ashland Middle School property on Thursday for $400,000.
The unanimous move is a step toward an eventual construction of a new administrative office building and a departure from building a new courthouse, commissioners said.
Earlier this year, commissioners hired VSWC Architects to provide “programming, planning and conceptual design services” for a new administration building or courthouse.
Brad Adams, owner of VSWC, said the cost of building a new courthouse influenced commissioners’ decision to focus on building an administrative building instead of a new courthouse.
He said a 30,000 square-foot courthouse “would be well in excess of what they were initially thinking.”
“I know they’re trying to be as fiscally responsible as they can,” Adams said.
Commissioner Jim Justice said the estimated figure VSWC provided for a new courthouse would be $25 million. Commissioners in March said they hoped to spend between $4 million and $6 million.
Now, they’re hoping to get a new administrative building and a reconfigured courthouse for under $7 million, Justice said.
“We would like to be $7 million, all in — (renovating) the courthouse and constructing an office building,” said commissioner Denny Bittle.
Commissioners on Thursday approved of a purchase agreement of vacant property at the corner of Cottage and Fourth streets. It has sat vacant since 2016, when Ashland City Schools finalized demolition of the former Ashland Middle School.
The property went to public auction in 2018. That’s when William Chandler’s BP Matrix LLC bought it for $173,250. Ashland County Board of Commissioners was one of the bidders at the time.
“(Chandler) had deeper pockets at the time than we did,” Justice said.
Chandler was not immediately available to comment on this story.
The next step, Justice said, is to gather more information from judges. Adams said VSWC will work to interview judges and court staff on needs for space, equipment and furnishings.
Simultaneously, the architecture firm will continue to develop concrete plans for an administrative building. But details such as the number of stories and size of the building are still undetermined.
“It’s a great location,” Justice said of the vacant property commissioners are buying. “We’re hoping it’s going to work out for us. But nothing is in stone still. There’s so much work to do.”
What about the property on Church Street?
Commissioners bought a house on Church Street in March 2023. At the time, they said the plan was to tear down the existing houses and build a new office building that would house offices such as the treasurer, auditor, coroner and others.
The houses have since been demolished and replaced with stone. County employees park there, Bittle said.
“When we have the money, we could put black top on it,” Bittle said. “But we could still build a building on it.”
But Justice said the building they’d like to build would likely not fit on that lot on Church Street. (The property at the corner of Cottage and Fourth is 1.6 acres. Acreage of the lot on Church Street is unknown, but it is much smaller and narrower.)
Still, the properties give the commissioners “options,” commissioners said.