Private school interested in former Harrow District High School site

Former Harrow District High School location in Harrow, Ont. on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)

Windsor, Ont. -

Despite not owning the former Harrow District High School property, the Town of Essex is already receiving interest from possible tenants.

Peter Thyrring is the headmaster at St. Peter's ACHS College School.

He went before council Monday evening proposing to be a tenant so the school can open in September.

Their private institution in Amherstbrug is set to close at the end of June.

“We’d like to rent 9,000 square feet plus ice, plus gym and some cafeteria kitchen time. We would also like to rent an additional 3,000 square feet in the near future,” says Thyrring.

Nine students are currently enrolled.

But the town has yet to even purchase the property from the Greater Essex County District School Board, who acknowledge the site is up for sale.

With no deal in place, mayor Larry Snively says it’s impossible to accept Thyrring’s proposal.

“I’m not interested in bringing tenants in there and building high hopes when we don’t even know the unknown yet. We don’t know what it’s going to cost. So we don’t even know if we’re going to get the school. We don’t even know that yet,” says Snively.

Essex councillor Sherry Bondy released a six-point-plan on her website last week which includes intentions to seek out viable tenants.

“Give the community of Harrow Colchester South a chance to make this a hub and to have an anchor tenant. A school in a school. We have one shot council and we can do it if we try. We got to stop saying we can’t do it.”

The school closed in 2016.

Thyrring will now sit down with town administration and discuss alternative options.