WEST ENGLEWOOD — The Chicago Board of Education voted in closed session Wednesday to sell the building that once housed Earle Elementary School.
The red-brick building at 6121 S. Hermitage Ave. has been vacant since 2013, when the board — appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — closed 50 schools, most on the South and West sides.
Wisconsin-based developer Gorman & Co. bought the building for $200,000, and will transform it into apartments for seniors, according to a statement from Chicago Public Schools officials.
Six schools in Englewood were closed in 2013.
Earle and Elaine Goodlow Elementary, 2040 W. 62nd St., were consolidated, and the combined school renamed Earle STEM Elementary School, to highlight its focus on science, technology, engineering and math.
Former 15th Ward Ald. Toni Foulkes backed a plan in 2014 to reuse the former Earle school building to create a elementary school connected to Lindblom Math & Science Academy, a nearby selective enrollment high school. That plan never got off the ground.
CPS has now reached agreements to sell 26 of the schools closed in 2013 for approximately $31 million, officials said. Another five schools were "repurposed" immediately, officials said.
