Mundy Mill school property deeded back to GCSS

GAINESVILLE - The Gainesville City School System (GCSS) again has a site on Mundy Mill Road near Oakwood for a future school.

The board Monday night accepted a deed from Butler Properties' Wendell Starke for the 17 acres in the Mundy Mill subdivision which were originally given to the school by Lanier Properties.

Lanier Properties planned a huge multi-use development that was to include hundreds of housing units as well as a commercial component. But the property went into foreclosure when the recession hit and for a time it was owned by several banks.

Starke has purchased the section of development that Lanier Properties had given the city school board as the site for a future elementary school and offered to deed the site for the school back to the school system.

Supt. Merrianne Dyer says the school system has until December 31, 2022, to build an elementary school on that property. Until then, Dr. Dyer said, the school system will keep it "clean and maintained and available for use by the community's children for playground space."