Cassady Avenue Land Project

Bexley School facilities have an average age of 84, with one school over 100 years old. Our facilities have served us well for decades due to the schools’ dedication to maintenance and upkeep. However, we believe that it is not good stewardship to continue on a path of spending to simply maintain our buildings. During our Strategic Plan development, our residents expressed a strong desire to upgrade and possibly expand our academic facilities and improve our athletic venues. The Strategic Plan specifically charged the district with finding new land for purchase or lease.

For many years, we have recognized that we do not have enough space for our student-athletes and team sports. And we have heard this from our community. Too often, teams must switch back and forth between early and late practices to give everyone equal access to field space, causing many of our students to arrive home late in the evening after practice. At least one coach has told us that practices are occasionally canceled, depending upon the logistics of working around other teams using the same venues. Parents and students also have shared that this demanding schedule can negatively impact students' social and emotional well-being or even their physical well-being.

The purchase of the property could simultaneously make way for us to expand our academic buildings on the Cassingham Complex by utilizing land currently used by athletics, as well as permit us to address playing fields and other outdoor activity concerns and opportunities. Our current facilities-planning work is a reflection of our community and its support to upgrade our buildings and athletic facilities. Looking toward the next 100 years, we believe upgrading and possibly expanding our academic facilities and improving our athletic amenities will positively impact our students for decades to come.

We had an urgency to act on the purchase when the land was available for sale due to the rarity of this amount of space and its proximity to the district. Because of the district’s foresight in saving Permanent Improvement (PI) funds approved by voters in 2016, the board is able to purchase the land without requesting additional funds from voters to do so.

Our community-informed Strategic Plan charges us with exploring alternative facilities and buildings through partnerships, grants, leases, and purchasing opportunities. We have worked hard to develop local partnerships and lease agreements, talked with local leaders and developers, and considered the possibility of every land option identified, including land owned by Capital University, the current Africentric High School site, and others.

The district has partnered with the Jewish Community Center (JCC), and we appreciate its leaders’ willingness to help the district find land solutions in the past. The school district has considered long-term leases for practice or event fields with the JCC, Capital University, and St. Catharine’s Church, as well as with Columbus Parks and Recreation for land in the Clowson Field area.

With this opportunity, the board concluded that our district would be best served by owning the land on which it would develop rather than spending millions of dollars to develop venues on property we do not own. The purchase now permits us to achieve facilities improvement goals within our current planning process.

In mid-September, Bexley Schools signed a purchase agreement to acquire 28.36 acres of land north of Bexley, at 935 N. Cassady Ave., to develop an outdoor campus for potential outdoor learning and multiple field sports. This land is more than double what the district currently has on the Cassingham Complex.

Like most agreements between buyers and sellers, confidentiality is paramount, and it has helped us avoid a potential bidding war with another interested party. The board received regular updates while we worked to secure a purchase agreement.

Bexley School officials have searched for years for suitable land within Bexley city limits that is large enough to meet our needs and support our many field sports and practice spaces. No space in Bexley city limits is suitable in size or type and affordable for the district. Additionally, we were cognizant that any potential land purchase in the city would detract from our tax base because the schools are tax-exempt.

No final decisions have been made regarding the scope of the new outdoor campus, though some sports venues are expected to be moved to the new site. 

Once the deal is final, we will begin planning for this site and will seek input from our families, faculty, student-athletes, coaches, staff, and the Bexley community. Similar to how we have conducted our Strategic Planning and Facilities Planning processes in the last two years, we welcome and value the input from all of our stakeholders. Watch for communication regarding how to participate, likely beginning in December 2024 or January 2025.

Currently, we are working with our architects to see what athletic venues will make sense for this space. Under consideration are fields for baseball and softball, a regulation-sized track, a practice field that could accommodate our multiple-field sports, and tennis courts. One possibility is to create an athletic sports complex on the property similar to the Columbus Schools for Girls sports complex not far from the Cassady Avenue land. The complex could also be considered for outdoor classrooms and other educational opportunities. 

Some of our playing venues are in other areas near Bexley, including baseball, which is played at Columbus Parks & Rec’s Clowson Field. Some of our sports teams play and practice at Wolfe Park, which is managed by Columbus Parks and Rec. We appreciate the strong partnerships our schools have had with other organizations that have hosted Bexley sports or helped us hold events. We would not have been able to have the number of teams or quality of sports without their partnerships.

No. It has already been decided that the athletic stadium will remain at its current Cassingham location. Varsity sports contests for football, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse, will likely remain at the athletic stadium; practices for these sports could take place at the new complex.

We currently provide a shuttle service for student-athletes to the JCC during Spring sports. Similar transportation options to the new complex will likely be available after school. We anticipate this need and are studying our options.

If sports venues move from the Cassingham Complex, what will happen to the land that is vacated?

When we began our Facilities Planning work earlier this year, it became clear that many of the most supported options for long-term facility improvements would involve moving some athletic facilities off of the Cassingham Complex. Freeing up land on the Cassingham Complex would give the school district numerous options to upgrade and even expand some of our academic facilities, benefiting all of our learners.