New School Board Chair Annie Caiola presides over her first meeting on Jan. 12. Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

This story has been updated. 

The City Schools of Decatur has negotiated an extension of the due diligence period for a piece of property it currently has under contract.

The School Board in June voted to go under contract to purchase 3.9 acres along Talley Street and South Columbia Drive as a possible site for a new school. The originally estimated closing date was March 1, 2016. Board Chairperson Annie Caiola said that the due diligence has been extended 90 days with the goal of closing on the property in June.

The seller is Chuck Bosserman. The purchase price is about $4.9 million, $1.25 million per acre.

“I think we’ve just determined that there’s a little more due diligence that needs to be done on our part,” Caiola said. “I probably can’t say anything beyond that at this point. We were able to negotiate an extended due diligence period. Given that they (the seller) were willing to do that, it’s obviously in our best interest.”

CSD has so far declined to release the sales contract regarding the Talley Street property, citing an exemption in the state’s open records law. Previously it had been reported that there were potential environmental issues with the property.

Early this morning, Jan. 21, Caiola added, “The reason for the extended due diligence period is in order to allow us to complete some environmental due diligence work. At this time, we do not have any reason to believe that there are any major environmental concerns with the property, although we do know that the property has been used for industrial purposes. For that reason, it is important that we exercise some caution and complete all necessary environmental testing before we close the sale.”

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