WBESC selling Van Wert office building

Van Wert independent

The Western Buckeye Educational Service Center is hoping to cut costs to better maintain local educational services, and a key component in those efforts is the sale of the WBESC’s office building on Lincoln Highway east of Van Wert.

Superintendent Brian Gerber said the building has been underutilized for some time.

“We were not using that building to its capacity,” Gerber said, noting that there were often times when there were just three staff members in the building.

Gerber stressed, though that the WBESC would still maintain a presence in Van Wert, but would move its operations to the Thomas Edison Center.

“We do so much with the preschool program at TE,” the WBESC superintendent said, adding that relocation to the North Franklin Street facility is a natural progression for the local ESC operation. “We’re still going to maintain services.”

Selling the building, Gerber noted, would help the WBESC’s bottom line tremendously. “If we sell, we don’t have the expense of utilities, snow removal, mowing,” he explained.

The building, located at 10730 Lincoln Highway west of Van Wert, is modern and would make a good office location or small business site. The WBESC will keep its Paulding ESC location.

The facility is to be auctioned off Tuesday, August 30, starting at 6 p.m. at the building.

Anyone wanting more information can call the Van Wert ESC office at 419.238.4647.

The Van Wert Educational Service Center building on Lincoln Highway is to be sold on August 30. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)