Closing schools in Sudbury could fuel developer dreams

While the Rainbow District School Board examines whether to close as many as a dozen schools in the Sudbury, Ont. area, real estate developers are starting to imagine what those properties could become next.

According to Sudbury real estate agent Luke Smith, businesses often move into old schools, while some become apartment buildings and others are bulldozed for houses.

A few big developers with deep pockets often snap up former school properties and then sit on them, especially with Sudbury's housing market currently going through a slump, he said.

"It would be an excellent play for somebody to buy as many of these as possible and wait for the demand," Smith said.

In outlying communities like Lively, Chelmsford and Dowling, having a local school is often a draw for home buyers, so those areas might be less desirable if schools close, he added.

"So if you take the school out of the picture, you're going to have a less of a demand for young families to want to live in these outskirts," Smith said.

Interestingly, some of these old school properties will be more valuable if they are close to a French or a Catholic school that will be staying open, Smith added.