Philly SRC approves sale of two more shuttered schools

The sale of two more shuttered Philadelphia School District buildings has been approved.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission agreed Thursday night to sell the former Willard Elementary school in Kensington and the Sheridan West Academy Middle School building in Harrowgate.

“We’re very happy to say that those are two vacant properties that are no longer going to be part of our list of vacant properties of the school district,” said district spokesman Fernando Gallard.

Both schools closed in 2013 as the district drastically downsized its profile.

Willard Elementary will be sold to the nonprofit Project HOME for $400,000. Sheridan will be sold to local developer GM Holdings for $600,000.

Although the sales will total $1 million, the district’s profit will be smaller after closing costs and defeasing any debts attached to the building.

With these transactions, the district’s profits on real estate sales total just over $40 million since the district closed more than two dozen schools in the spring  of 2013.

Since those closures, the district has now sold 12 properties.