WCCC approves sale of former Latrobe center to Arizona firm

Westmoreland County Community College’s former Laurel Education Center may soon have a new owner after sitting idle for more than four years.

WCCC trustees this month agreed to sell the shuttered Latrobe building to SimonCRE, a commercial real estate development firm based in Scottsdale, Ariz., for $410,000.

That’s $10,000 more than the college hoped to get when it pursued a prospective sale of the property to the National Acoustic Research Academy in 2017 — a deal that never came to fruition, when the buyer’s funding plans fell through.

The new agreement is subject to review by the college’s solicitor, with potential closing of the sale to the Arizona company a few months away.

“There is a fairly long period of 180 days for completing due diligence,” said WCCC President Tuesday Stanley.

If the sale proceeds, she said, the college’s former Latrobe branch “will be off our books and, hopefully, it will be on the tax rolls for Latrobe, which will be a good thing.”

The proceeds would be added to the college’s reserve fund, she said.

WCCC moved out of the Laurel Education Center in the fall of 2015, when it opened its new, larger Latrobe center across Loyalhanna Creek, at Depot and Jefferson streets. Located on Lloyd Avenue, next to the Castle Co-Packers plant, the vacant Laurel building once was occupied by Kennametal Corp.

A spokeswoman for SimonCRE declined to comment.

According to its website, the company has developed properties in multiple states — including many Dollar General and O’Reilly Auto Parts outlets. Three of the latter stores are located in Pennsylvania — in Erie, Edinboro and the Clearfield area.