Madonna University in Livonia, Mich., has bought the property next to its campus that formerly housed Ladywood High School.
HometownLife.com reports that the Catholic university plans to locate several programs within the former high school's walls, including parts of its music program, athletics department and forensic science program. Madonna also will use the space to facilitate the creation of an early childhood lab school.
"We feel blessed and fortunate to be able to take possession of the property," says Cameron Cruickshank, the university's executive vice president for enrollment management and university advancement. "We feel good that it's going to stay in the family."
Ladywood High School, an all-girls Catholic school, closed in June after the Felician Sisters decided that declining enrollment had made it unfeasible to keep operating.
Madonna will be able to use the former high school's parking lots and its outdoor athletic fields immediately. Many of the programs moving to the site will come at a later date as the newly acquired space undergoes renovations.
The Felician Services, the business arm of the Felician Sisters, announced earlier this year it would seek proposals for uses on the site. Several proposals were submitted, including one from a group of parents looking to keep a Catholic high school on the site that was ultimately rejected.
“While all the finalists submitted good proposals, Madonna University was decidedly the best,” Andrea White, FSI president, said in a statement. “We were impressed by their proposed partnership with another Felician ministry and we are very pleased that the property will remain in the Felician family.”
