By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
A landmark Arkadelphia school building is set to change ownership in coming days, and the new buyer is keeping mum about any immediate plans for the property.
Central Primary School comprising three buildings on an entire city block — between Pine and Haddock streets and 12th and 11th streets — has sold to Arkadelphia natives Roger and Kadre Wingfield.
During a meeting Tuesday, Sept. 17, the Arkadelphia Board of Education authorized Superintendent Nikki Thomas to sign closing documents to deed the property to the Wingfields, who made a $215,000 offer on the school building and land. The school board spent little time discussing the resolution that gives Thomas the authorization to move forward with the sale.
Central Primary, originally built in 1906 and rebuilt in the 1940s following a fire, served as the high school until the Art Deco building known as the Administration Building was constructed in 1931. Central last housed grades 2-3 until its closure in 2020, as the school district made preparations to consolidate grades K-4 into one campus at Peake, which opened in fall 2024.
The Central property had been appraised for nearly $1.3 million as recently as 2021, and at the time the district had at least one offer on the property. The Arkadelphian since learned that the previously undisclosed offer came from Scott Nelson, whose namesake construction company put in a bid of roughly $400,000. Nelson said in a telephone interview that the offer — as well as a second, lower bid — garnered no response from the school district or realtor, Crye-Leike Pro Elite Realty.
It remains unclear what will become of the campus once the deal is finalized and the property belongs to Wingfield, an Arkadelphia High School alumnus.
Asked Wednesday by arkadelphian.com about his plans for the buildings, Wingfield said in a text message that he had none, and called the purchase a “future investment opportunity.”
The school district, meanwhile, is expected to earmark proceeds from the sale for use toward the building of a new high school.