Town's Island Ave. School $2.3M Deal With Our Lady Of Mercy Inked

Editor's note: A previous version of this story had an unfortunate misspelling. Patch greatly regrets the error.

MADISON, CT — As of Friday, the ink is dry on Our Lady of Mercy Preparatory Academy's $2.3 million purchase of the Island Avenue School.

The Feb. 15 referendum on the sale of the school site by the town to the private parochial school was approved by voters.

"So grateful to finally move things forward," Madison First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons wrote on Facebook. "The voters of Madison overwhelmingly endorsed, with 72 percent of votes cast, to support the sale."

The town bought the Property in 1949 and built an elementary school, which opened in the early 1950s and remained a school until 2019 when it was shuttered. The Madison Public Schools' Board of Education decided to close it as part of a broader school restructuring and renewal plan.

Since then, OLM Prep has been leasing the school at an annual rate of $320,000, which would have expired in July.

Given the successful referendum vote, the town was paid $2.3 million at the closing and entered into a tax abatement agreement with the private prep school for eight years. That agreement fixes the assessed value of the property at $1.75 million and requires that the school pay property taxes based on that value, according to town documents.

Here's the full OLM proposal for the purchase in response to the town's June 2021 RFP.

"So happy to entrust this important Town asset to such enthusiastic and welcoming hands," Lyons wrote. "Now another generation of kids can continue to learn and thrive in such a special place."