The Indian River County School Board Tuesday evening accepted a $710,000 offer from Christ Church of Vero Beach for 15 acres on the southwest corner of 6th Avenue and 20th Street. After paying $71,000 to Associated Auctions, the total cost to Christ Church for the site will be $771,000.
The flood-prone site is the former location of the old Osceola Magnet School, which was demolished earlier this year. The Osceola Magnet School is now located south of Oslo Road at the former Thompson Lifelong Learning Center.
Christ Church, currently located in a plaza behind Outback Steakhouse, looks to build a more traditional church campus on the 15-acre site. Representatives for the congregation originally bid $620,000 for the property at a Nov. 11 auction. The offer did not meet the School District’s reserve price of $700,000.
The site had been considered by city officials as a possible stormwater retention area, with the property fronting 20th Street developed for commercial uses.
In developing the site, Christ Church will face additional expenses addressing the property’s flooding issues.
According to a report by Press Journal columnist, Russ Lemmon, the partnership of Kelly Kite and Joey Schlitt offered $705,000 for the property, with the intention of using the land along State Road 60 for small commercial development and perhaps selling the remainder to Christ Church.
Kite owns the land where Rita’s is now located, so developing commercial across the street would be a natural fit. Rita’s will be moving in early December next to Five Guys to make room for a new Hampton Inn & Suites.
Now that Christ Church won the bidding, Kite and Schlitt might still be interested in buying the land fronting State Road 60. A church spokesman, though, said it is too early to consider selling part of the property, as they haven’t yet developed plans for the site.
Indian River Guardian 
This is good news for both the IRC School District and Christ Church. A new church should have a positive impact on the community at large.
Congratulations to Christ Church on their purchase of a new home at an excellent and very visible location. 15 acres would seem to be a lot more land than they would ever require in their building plans. $710k would also appear to be a big “nut” for them to bear.
A stormwater retention pond would be of great benefit to the Indian River Lagoon. Why not have the COVB offer to buy the excess land from Christ Church for the retention pond? The city could then allow Christ Church to “harvest” fill from the COVB’s intended land to bring the desireable portion of their low lot up to stormwater level, and create a large retention pond in the process. When the COVB completes the planning for the stormwater retention system, the land and part of the excavation would already be in place. This could save both parties a substantial amount of money and be highly beneficial to the church and the lagoon.
This was a loss for the community as this property was worth much more. And the fact that it is now a tax exempt property owned by a church means no further taxes will come to the County or city from it. There weer many better uses for the property and would have meant much more for our community.