For the past five years, Harrow High has stood empty, but uncertainty surrounding the property's future may be coming to an end.
The Town of Essex has purchased the property from the Greater Essex County District School Board for an undisclosed amount. The deal closes next Friday.
Harrow High School closed in June 2016 after a long fight by residents to keep it open. Since then, Councillor Sherry Bondy has fought to turn it into a community hub, and although the town council hasn't approved any plans for it yet, she is excited.
"We can start looking at what the high school always should have been when it closed," she said. "We want to have access to an inside gym, a kitchen, an area for programming."
The school property is located next to the Harrow Arena on Wellington Street in Harrow.
Bondy admits the building will need some work. She said the next step would be to conduct an engineering assessment.
"I've seen inside. It certainly needs some community elbow grease, but I am fully prepared to stand behind this building and rally the community," Bondy vowed.
Bondy also believes a new recreational space will fit nicely with new development in the area.
"You can develop, develop, develop, but at the end of the day, you want to have balance," she said.
Bondy said the town used to own the property but sold it to the school board in the 1970s.
