DEFIANCE, Ohio — A major step in a year-and-a-half fight to keep a historic building in Defiance has finally moved forward.
In early 2018, all junior high classes moved out of the old historic Defiance High School building. The district had planned to demolish the structure, but strong public outcry to save the building kept the wrecking ball away.
Now, the Defiance City School Board has officially voted to approve the sale of the building to the city of Defiance for just $1.
With the upkeep of the aging building off their books, the district can bring their full focus to their current students and the city will then be in charge to find a future use for the building.
"Their job is education. We're the economic development piece here in the city of Defiance, so we can handle that the best. There are things that we can do that the school board cannot do," Defiance Mayor Mike McCann said.
Mayor McCann said they have already had a lot of interest in the building from potential developers, but the city couldn't officially move forward until the school district sold. Now that the sale has been approved on the school's end, the city can begin working with their upcoming budget to see what they need to do to draw new business there.
"In all honesty, tomorrow we have a developer coming to look at that building from the hospitality industry, which is something quite appealing to us. So, we'll see how that goes," McCann said.
The next step in the process is for Defiance City Council to formally approve the purchase, beginning at next week's city council meeting.