Binnie Gets Walker School for $900K

Former Republican Senate candidate and entrepreneur Bill Binnie was the high bidder for the now vacant Walker Elementary School, outbidding Concord Group Insurance in an auction on Nov. 15.

In the back and forth auction, held at Upton & Hatfield law office, the school’s attorneys, the bidding started at $620,000, according to Kass Ardinger, the president of the Concord School Board. The bidding continued for about 50 minutes with 14 bids between the two companies, until Binnie reached $900,000 and Concord Group bowed out of the bidding. Ardinger stated that the Carlisle Group, Binnie's company, signed the purchase and sale agreement and put down a $50,000 deposit on the building. 

Binnie originally proposed purchasing the building for $575,000. While the $900,000 final bidding price was higher than what Binnie first proposed, it is far below the $3.7 million appraised value school board members and district officials claimed the empty school would fetch during the elementary school consolidation process. 

In a statement, Binnie stated that the company was “delighted to be the successful bidder” adding that the process “raised a lot of money” for the school district and will put the building onto the tax rolls. He said the building will be the new headquarters of Binnie Media, a collection of radio stations and WBIN-TV. Binnie said that the WBIN-TV studios would be housed at the school along with radio stations WJYY (105.5 FM), Frank-FM (99.1 FM), The Wolf (93.3 FM), and other stations.

“We look forward to working with the City of Concord and the school board for a successful transaction,” Binnie said.