The district's Chief Financial Officer Randy McDowell said PISD has received a number of inquiries from real estate professionals about clients interested in purchasing the property due to its proximity to the planned Shiloh Road Station that will be part of Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Silver Line project.
“We know the value of the building is probably much higher right now than it was a year or two ago,” McDowell said.
The 26-mile, east-west Silver Line project will connect seven cities and four counties in the North Dallas area, including the city of Plano. It is expected to be in service in 2024.
The $1.89 billion project includes the construction of 10 new rail stations, including the Shiloh Road Station in Plano, and an update to the 12th Street station.
The Shiloh Road Station is projected to service 690 daily riders by 2040, according to DART.
McDowell said the Shiloh Center, which is located at 3540 14th St., houses around 150 district employees. He estimated that around 130 of them work in special education for the district.
“This is really a home base to many of those employees,” McDowell said, noting most of the staff members primarily work with students on campuses. “If you walk into this building on a given day, it is not often populated with staff.”
The other 20 or so employees housed in the facility are with departments such as assessment, accountability, technology, and library and media, McDowell said.
“We are just evaluating what our other options would be to relocate all of these staff or most of these staff to other PISD facilities,” McDowell said. “In most school districts, your [traveling] special education staff are housed ... close to the campuses that they serve.”
PISD purchased the Shiloh Center facility, which is a former grocery store, from Albertsons Companies Inc. in 1997 for just over $1 million, according to McDowell.
“This is definitely a first step—we're not obligating ourselves to sell this property,” Board President David Stolle said. “We're not speculative real estate investors; however, there's an opportunity to make some money, and we certainly would be wise to consider that.”
