Les Manasse, with Mel Manasse & Son Auctioneers, Whitney Point, separates
chairs Tuesday at the closed
George H. Nichols Elementary School in Endicott. The Union-Endicott school district
is
holding an auction of surplus items Saturday. The building will be converted into
senior citizen housing.
ENDICOTT –
As many as 2,000 desks, tables, chairs and other school items that once helped children
learn their reading, writing and arithmetic will be auctioned off Saturday when the
Union-Endicott school district cleans house at the former George H. Nichols Elementary
School.
“Maybe you could
find the desk you carved your name into,” said Les Manasse, of Mel Manasse & Son
Auctioneers in Whitney Point, as he sorted through sale items Thursday and grouped them
into lots. “There’s lots of stuff,
rooms & rooms of desks.”
Manasse Auctioneers,
which is handling the liquidation for the district, will begin selling the school’s
contents at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“It’s a
complete school, soup to nuts,” said Matt Manasse, auctioneer.
He speculated the
auction would go for three to four hours until everything is sold – the basketball
hoops in the gymnasium, sewing machines, floor scrubbers, chalkboards.
“Somebody
could buy a piece of history,” Matt Manasse said.
He expects a couple of
hundred people to register to bid.
While some buyers might
be shopping for memorabilia, others will be looking for a bargain. Les Manasse said the stainless-steel sinks, ovens,
refrigerators and dishwasher in the former kitchen will attract bidders because the
equipment is usable and meets electrical codes. He
said the exhaust fan could go for $2,000, a bargain compared with the $15,000 price tag
for a new Unit.
Serving the Elderly
through Project Planning Inc., a nonprofit housing organization based in Binghamton, plans
to convert the former school into a 57-unit apartment house for senior living.
“This
auction will be an efficient way for U-E to clear out the Nichols building before it’s
sold to SEPP,” said school Superintendent Dennis Sweeney. The school will sell the building to SEPP for
$250,000. SEPP will spend $6.5 million to
build Nichols Notch Apartments, with help from federal and state grants. The state Division of Housing and Community
Renewal awarded $2.5 million to the project Nov. 2.
The district closed the
building in June 2000 when a new elementary school was opened on the village’s North
Side. As many as 27,000 pupils attended
classes at the Nichols School over 65 years, said district spokeswoman Marilyn Blake.
[Press &
Sun Bulletin – Wednesday, November 28, 2001]