WAITE PARK -- The former Minnesota School of Business building in Waite Park could soon be used for education again.

The St. Cloud School District is looking at buying the building to house their district offices.

St. Cloud School Board Chair Al Dahlgren says moving the district office out of St. Cloud Apollo it clears way for increase classroom space.

"We said a long time ago we were looking at moving the district office out of Apollo High School. By moving the offices we will free up about 25,000 square-feet which will allow us to expand our career in tech offerings."

The district needs roughly 40,000 square-feet to house the district offices, welcome center and media services. Dahlgren says they looked at building on Clark Field, which was voted down by the neighborhood, as well as renovating the current Tech High School.

"To remodel 40,000 square-feet at the current Tech High School would be about $10-12 million. Then we would have a 40,000 square-foot office building in a 330 square-foot building. It keep a presence in the neighborhood but we would have problems with the rest of the building."

The Minnesota School of Business building became a potential location when the school closed back in December. He says the facility has everything they would need without much renovation needed.

"That building is already 40,000 square-feet, it's already purposed for educational purposes, it is exactly what we need as far a building is concerned. The offer on the table is about a 25% discount of the assessed value of the building."

Dahlgren says the district has about $8-million in building funds, after spending $12-million on the new Early Childhood Center, to use toward a new district office.

A purchase agreement is in place for $5.6-million, which is less then the valued $7.9-million.

The school board will vote on the purchase agreement during Thursday's board meeting.

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