Former school property in VOC appraised at $9.5M in April 2025

The Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board voted 4-0 to accept a $10 million bid for the former Big Park Community School property from Basil and Mimi Maher, and authorized the district to negotiate the purchase agreement.

“Their proposal indicates the future use of the property would aim to address community needs while also supporting investment objectives,” SOCSD Finance Director Stacey Saravo said. “Examples mentioned in the proposal are such uses as the library, community garden or other community-focused amenities.”

She said housing may be considered as part of the development, but the specifics would be worked out in the contract.

“That’s, by far, the highest bid that will net us the largest amount of money we’d get from this,” board member Karen McClelland said. “The money can only be used for basically capital expenses, but that’s a large chunk of money that will make a big difference in planning out five-year plans.”

The property was appraised at $9.5 million in April 2025.

“It also mirrors the survey results that we received,” board member Sam Blom said. “It meets everything, or most of, the comments that our survey came up with.”

President Randy Hawley recused himself to sit in the audience during discussion of the bid acceptance and abstained from the 4-0 vote.

“I’m on a professional committee with [the Mahers], so I didn’t want to give any sort of sense that I was impacting it in any way, so I just removed myself totally from the process,” said Hawley, who is president of the Sedona-Oak Creek Unified School District Educational Foundation, on which Basil Maher is vice president and Mimi Maher is secretary.

Hawley was also absent from the public community input session at the former school on Feb. 24.

Other Bids

The Mahers’ bid was one of four bids and three offers.

The first bid, which offered $5.5 million, was Thunderbird Commercial Fund LLC.

“The buyer indicated that their intent is to utilize the property for community oriented purposes rather than commercial operations,” Saravo said. “Potential uses mentioned in the proposal included a church and community center with the possibility of staff housing or senior housing also being considered.”

The last two bids were from the same buyer, Toll Brothers, one at $6.65 million and one at $7.9 million.

“The buyer intends to develop the property into a housing subdivision with approximately 40 homes, which is permitted under the current zoning,” Saravo said of the $6.65 million bid. “This option would take the project through the approval of a preliminary property layout period.”

The second bid included the higher dollar value and would have included the final property layout before closing.

“One factor [considered] is the financial impact, including the purchase price and potential financial outcomes for the district,” Saravo said. “Another important consideration is community alignment, including how proposals may reflect priorities expressed in the community survey. Finally, it is important to consider the long-term benefits and impacts these projects may have for the community and the school district.”

She said by the time the decision was made on Wednesday, there were more than 600 responses on the community survey, 81% of whom identified themselves as Big Park neighbors or community members.

Saravo said the top results were continuing the community library, having a community center, gathering space or green space.

“Housing-related options, such as affordable housing, workforce housing or family housing, also received moderate, but consistent, support,” she said.