Racine Unified Will Lease Diagnostic Center to Sisters of St. Dominic

The Racine Unified School Board voted on Sept. 26 to enter into negotiations to lease its Diagnostic Center building to the Sisters of St. Dominic.

Situated between the Sisters' Sienna Center and Olympia Brown Elementary School, 5915 Erie, the deal is expected to generate $30,000 a year. The Sisters would also pay the utilities for the facility.

The building will be available after staff has completed its move to the new Administrative Service Center, at 3109 Mt. Pleasant St., Racine, at the end of September. With the potential to last three years, the district also may work to sell the building to the Sisters during the term, said Unified Chief Financial Officer Dave Hazen.

“The property is landlocked between the district and the Sisters,” Hazen said. “So we would need to allow permanent easements if we wanted to sell it to someone else.”

The cost of the move to the new ASC is about five percent over the $5.95 million budgeted, Hazen also told the board. This works out to an extra $297,500, with a current total cost of about $6,247,500.

“Things have been added on to enhance savings or functionality,” Hazen said, adding that the closing date on the old ASC at 2220 Northwestern Ave. has been moved to mid-October.