wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Menaul School finds buyer for 15 acres

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8938 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05524
Sept. 28, 2005

Menaul School finds buyer for 15 acres

Proceeds of land sale will be used to pay historic institution's debts

by Jerry L. Van Marter

SACRAMENTO, CA - Menaul School in Albuquerque, NM, has found a buyer for 15
acres of land next to its main campus.

	Conrad Rocha, Menaul's chief financial officer and a member of the
General Assembly Council (GAC) told the council's Mission Support Services
(MSS) Committee here on Sept. 22 that the proceeds will be used to retire
most or all of the historic school's $2.3 million debt. (That doesn't include
$650,000 owed to the PC(USA) and the Synod of the Southwest.)

	The parcel, on the eastern edge of the Menaul campus, was listed for
$3.3 million. It includes some faculty housing that will have to be  vacated.
The New Mexico Business Weekly said the land "sits near existing light
industrial and office properties in an area where impact fees are low, which
could make it easy to develop."

	Because the sale will not close until February 2006, Rocha declined
to identify the buyer. 

	But "this will make it much easier for us to raise funds for capital
improvements, innovative programs and endowments," he said. "No one wants to
donate money to pay off old debts."

	Joey Bailey, the GAC's chief financial officer, praised the sale as
"the latest positive step in bringing financial stability to Menaul School."

	Menaul, founded in 1881 as a boarding secondary school for Native
American boys, has a rich history but has struggled financially in recent
years, as have many small private schools. 

	After the sale, the campus, which once took in 200 acres, will total
about 35 acres.

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