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A proposal to the Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education could solve two problems.
According to a recent story by News staff writer Steve Schulwitz, Alpena businessman Dave Dargis has offered to buy the school district's Grambau Education Center and turn it into housing.
Neither Dargis nor the school district disclosed how much Dargis offered. It's now up to to the district's Board of Education to either issue a counteroffer or to accept or reject Dargis' offer.
We hope the two sides can come to an agreement quickly.
Northeast Michigan desperately needs housing. A lack of affordable housing has hurt our economic growth potential, with anecdotal evidence that some jobs remain unfilled because potential workers couldn't find housing to move here for the job.
The district also needs to offload that building, which has sat vacant for years but still costs the district money in upkeep costs.
A sale could be a win-win-win for Dargis, for the school district, and for Northeast Michigan as a whole.
The school district needs to get a fair price for the building, but we urge school leaders to give great consideration to Dargis' offer.
We hope a deal can come together.