Lip-balm firm wants to buy school in Whitefish

A Whitefish lip-balm maker has offered to purchase the Whitefish Independent High School building for the full asking price of $325,000.

The Whitefish School District is selling the building, a former church on Park Avenue and Seventh Street, and will move the independent program into the new high school building when it opens in 2014.

The district received an offer on the building from Neil Stuber and Corrie Colbert, owners of Hurraw! lip balm company. In a letter accompanying a buy-sell agreement, Stuber and Colbert say the building would be the right fit for their business.

“Our light manufacturing will benefit from the quiet location, the open layout and the well maintained structure,” the letter states.

School board chairwoman Pat Jarvi has signed the buy-sell agreement.

However, the agreement notes that the sale is contingent upon city approval. The building is currently zoned for residential. As producers of a cosmetic product — lip balm — Hurraw! is considered a light manufacturer. To operate in the school building, the business will have to obtain a conditional use permit from the city of Whitefish.

The school district intends to continue teaching students in the building until the new high school opens.

The letter recognizes this and notes that the business “would like to extend a hand by purchasing the building at this time and not request any lease payments aside from utilities used during the school year.”

The letter also notes that the lip balm business is interested in working with the school district to create part-time paid internships for students to offer an introduction into manufacturing and international business.

The sale of the independent school building has been identified as a way to help the district make up the $267,000 anticipated overage in the construction budget for the new high school.

Desch writes for the Whitefish Pilot.