Torah Links to Purchase McGinnis School Site

Torah Links of Middlesex County has submitted a successful bid to purchase the site of the McGinnis School, according to township CFO Lou Neely.

At the June 24 Township Council meeting, Neely said the site was purchased through a $375,000 bid to be paid in full at closing.

The building was sold "as-is," does not contain any deed restrictions, and was remediated a few years ago, when oil tanks on the property were removed by the township, Neely said. 

TORAH Links of Middlesex County did not immediately return a phone call for comment on Monday.

Neely plans to request that the sale be put on the council agenda for July 15. 

The McGinnis School came under under township ownership 21 years ago when it was given to the township by the board of education, along with three other BOE-owned sites, as collateral for a loan, Neely said.

The other three sites were sold off over the years, and McGinnis is the only remaining parcel of land left from that deal, Neely said. 

It has been put up for bid six times, Neely said.

Councilwoman Nancy Pinkin said the aging building has been "an eyesore" in the neighborhood over recent years, and council president James Wendell said he attended the McGinnis School as a youth, and that the township should move on the sale "as quickly as possible."

At the end of 2011, the school was slated to be rented to East Brunswick Chabad through a 30-year lease, but the deal was mutually scrapped after Chabad had trouble securing the finances needed to renovate the building, and could not afford to buy it outright, Neely said.