The Macon County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on April 11 to allocate $1.35 million for the potential purchase of 10+ acres of property, known as the Higdon property, located across the street from Franklin High School.
The action includes the 2.54-acre tract at 195 Wayah St. which includes the house, plus the 8.43-acre hilly tract surrounding it, owned by the Brigitte J. Higdon Trust and William J. Higdon Trust, respectively, both of Birmingham, Alabama. Board Chair Paul Higdon said he’s “not the Higdon that owns it.”
According to Macon County GIS, the combined value of the two properties is $1.923 million (the house value of $679,470 is included) as of December 2022.
The board approval gives $10,000 in non-refundable due diligence money to Collins and Collins PA to be paid to the seller, disburses $100,000 in refundable earnest money to the trust fund of Ridenour and Goss PA, and appropriates $1.35 million from the general fund balance to be set aside for potential full purchase of the two parcels. According to the contract, which County Manager Derek Roland signed on March 24, the property is now under a 60-day due diligence period that began April 4, followed by a 30-day closing period.
The properties have been on the market for well over a decade.
The planned purchase of the Higdon property was first revealed to the public in the board materials three days before the meeting.
Commissioner Gary Shields wanted more discussion on the property, saying he didn’t know what it could or would be used for. Commissioner John Shearl said he would be in favor of the purchase as long as the property can be incorporated into the FHS project. Commissioner Danny Antoine said the whole point of bringing up the Higdon Property was for the FHS project.
“Personally, I did not see moving forward with the FHS project with that property being right there and it not being added, being that we need more space for the high school project,” Antoine said. He added that he’s talked to the FHS architect Paul Boney of LS3P to see if it could work, saying it was a “really positive discussion.”
FHS and the football stadium currently sit on roughly 20 acres. Antoine said the Higdon property could potentially be used for the Career and Technical Education program.
Shields brought up the idea of using the property as a “farm-to-table land lab” for the CTE program, showing a flyer he had about it.
Commissioner Josh Young said he had talked to Superintendent Chris Baldwin and other members of the school board prior to the meeting about the idea but didn’t indicate when those conversations occurred.
School board members Stephanie Laseter and Hilary Wilkes attended the commissioners’ meeting, and Young gave them the chance to speak.
Laseter said she was “delighted” about the potential of thinking forward with having it as part of the FHS project, saying she only learned about this when she saw the agenda in the last few days. Wilkes said she found out about the potential property purchase the day before and while she was happy about any potential investment in the school system, she wasn’t happy that it had not come through the school board’s liaison committee, which consists of herself, school board member Diedre Breeden, school board chair Jim Breedlove, Baldwin, Shields, Young and Roland. Wilkes expressed concern if the project would be 100% for Macon County Schools.
Both Laseter and Wilkes brought up the board de-prioritizing the Highlands PreK project in March, imploring the commissioners to take it up again.
Higdgon said that discussion was over.
Higdon said there are different points of view whether the current 20 acres are large enough for the new FHS. He said the board looked at buying some of the properties surrounding FHS, those prices skyrocketed, so this $1.35 million for 11 acres is likely the best deal possible.
“The only reason we entered into a contract, there was another entity looking at it,” Higdon said. “If we move into Phase Two development, does this property supplement, enhance Phase Two construction of the new high school? I don’t know.”
Phase Two would be the construction of a FHS building, which is tentatively slated to take place after Phase One’s construction of a new football and track facility on the current FHS site.
Architect visit
On April 13, the commissioners, two at a time, met with Boney and the soil and water crews at FHS primarily to discuss Phase One. The commissioners and architects visited the Higdon Property to look at it for what Higdon referred to as “boots on the ground,” and getting all five commissioners to get visuals of FHS and specifically the stadium area.
“We’re interested in doing Phase One now,” Higdon said. “We can talk about that for the next 10 years waiting on grants, waiting on whatever. We are financially stable to do Phase One independent. It may affect Phase Two plans, we understand that. These kids that are going through school now, as soon as reasonably possible, they need to have home meets, not only for them, but economically for Macon County.”
The Thursday talks centered around the drainage issues at the FHS field, which have been going on for years.
“We’ve identified, I think, what causes the flooding of this field,” Higdon said. “We’re working on solutions to that issue.”
Boney said the age of the watershed had “served it’s useful life” and it’s time to re-do it.
The initial proposed timeline for the county to present funding plans for the FHS project to the Local Government Commission is January 2024. Boney said no decision has been made on that presentation.
Macon County Schools is seeking a $50 million Needs Based Public School grant to kickstart the project. Boney confirmed he’s still working on that application. As far as the timeline, Boney said the money for that program will come in the state budget, which is slated for approval this summer.
“All of that will be analyzed later in the summer,” Boney said.
Boney declined to comment Thursday on what the Higdon property could be used for, saying it’s not part of his Phase One design scope.
“We’re in the assessment stage on the Higdon property,” Higdon said. “To say that it’s 100% related to the school, we’re not at that point yet. We can’t render a verdict until we hear the trial.”
Other interests
During the public comment period speakers raised questions about Antoine’s role as a county commissioner and his interest in the property relating to another project.
In a Dec. 8 YouTube video uploaded by “The Kavod Family,” Antoine, Travis Shook and Casey Wilson discuss their interest in the Higdon Estate.
Shook is the owner and head coach of Kavod Fitness. Antoine owns and operates Danny Antoine’s Martial Arts Academy. Wilson and his wife both work at Franklin’s The Inn of Last Resort, formerly Christian Training Center International, an Evangelical outreach center.
The video consists of Antoine and Shook going into detail about their fitness and martial arts businesses, respectively. Shook introduces Antoine and Wilson as The KAVOD Family’s board members.
The KAVOD Family was registered as a nonprofit in December 2021 and received its federal tax-exempt status in an IRS letter dated March 10, 2022. The nonprofit is registered under Shook’s name and to his home address.
In the video, Antoine says that being a newly elected county commissioners will help him in his goals.
“In addition to serving the community as I have, it was impressed upon my heart from the Lord to actually run for local office, which I did, so I’m a newly elected county commissioner,” Antoine said. “So that opens the door for us to be able to serve at a greater capacity right now, which I’m absolutely excited about at this point.”
Antoine was sworn into his public office as Macon County commissioner Dec. 5. The video was released Dec. 8, three days later.
Earlier in the video, Antoine said establishing a micro school has been a “lifelong goal” and said he and his wife have been approached about opening a school.
During the April 11 commissioners’ meeting, someone from the audience asked Antoine about the proposal during public comment. Antoine said their organization has nothing to do with county business.
The YouTube video has since been made private.