If all goes well, the closed Brunner Elementary School will be in its new owner’s hands by mid-January.

Curtice resident Gary Moritz told the Genoa Planning Committee about a month ago he wanted to buy the building and renovate it for multiple purposes, including a gym area, a rental hall, and a business hub.

The $50,000 sale, however, was contingent upon a zoning change from the current residential zoning to a commercial-one business zone. The committee’s approval recommendation then went to Genoa Village Council for a vote.

“The village council voted for the zoning change Monday and the school board approved the sale Tuesday,” Genoa Schools Superintendent Dennis Mock said Friday afternoon.

Those two votes pave the way for Moritz to take ownership of the 35,140-square foot building on West Street along with seven surrounding acres.

“We expect the closing to happen sometime around mid-January,” Mock said.

Brunner Elementary and Allen Central Elementary were closed at the end of the 2010-11 school year in June and replaced by a new elementary school on Genoa-Clay Center Road. The new elementary building completed the school board’s plan to unify the high school, middle school, and elementary school on one campus.

Because of multiple structural problems, Allen Central was demolished. But the Ohio School Facilities Commission gave school board members an opportunity to sell the Brunner building. If that had not happened, school board members would have had to board it up or demolish it also, Mock said in a previous interview.

“This works out well for everyone,” Mock said when Moritz first presented his offer to the school board.

Moritz has a long history with the school district. He is a former board of education member and both he and his children attended Genoa schools.

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