Eagle Elementary Sale Delayed by Title Work

The controversial sale of Eagle Elementary in Farmington Hills has been delayed again, this time by work on the property title.

Eagle is one of four elementary buildings closed at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. William Grace, Flanders and Wooddale, along with Fairview Early Childhood Education Center, which closed in 2006, were demolished this past summer. 

Farmington Schools assistant superintendent David Ruhland said the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA), which has offered to purchase the building for $1.1 million, agreed to an extension of the original closing date of Nov. 30. The deal is now set to close on Jan. 12.

But even if that closing date goes as scheduled, the funds won't be immediately available, Ruhland said. The money will stay in escrow pending an opinion by the Michigan Court of Appeals in a lawsuit filed by two district residents. 

Eugene Greenstein of Farmington Hills and Melvin C. Sternfeld of West Bloomfield , after  to approve the sale.

The plaintiffs claim they would be negatively affected because they live near the property, and that stopping the sale would allow Sternfeld, a real estate broker, and his clients to bid on the property. The trial court ruled .