AISD to recommend no Carruth sale

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Superintendent Meria Carstarphen will recommend rejecting both bids offered to buy the Carruth Administration Building, the school district's large complex on West Sixth Street.

The two proposals will be presented to the Austin ISD board of trustees at a meeting on Monday night that will also include recommendations to freeze transfers to 33 schools and a facilities master plan that would include various campus re-configurations, including a contract to turn Eastside Memorial's feeder pattern over to the Rio Grande Valley-based IDEA Charter network.

Both bids were far less than the $27.5 million appraised value for the converted retail complex, which includes 5 office buildings, 13 residential units and 441 on-site parking spaces in Old West Austin.

According to an agenda posted Friday night, two bids were offered on the building: one from Cerco Development for $16 million and another from 1111 W. 6th St. JV, LLC, which would offer $4.6 million, plus 200,000 square feet of office space in Highland Mall, current owned by Austin Community College.

At meetings with the community in North Central Austin, Carstarpen said she was interested in pursuing some type of laboratory school partnership with Austin Community College on the Highland Mall site.