The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency is helping Chautauqua County obtain the title for the property of the former Silver Creek High School, so it can get passed along to the developer.

Once the developer gets title of the property, demolition of the former school is expected to begin shortly thereafter.

On Tuesday, the county IDA passed a supplemental resolution for Silver Creek Apartments LLC. The resolution occurred following an executive session by the Board of Directors.

After the meeting, IDA attorney Milan Tyler and IDA Chief Executive Officer Mark Geise discussed the board’s action.

Tyler said the county is in the process of obtaining the title of the property. The property is still legally owned by John Sack, who passed away years ago. Tyler noted that in 2007 and again in 2009 the county did a tax foreclosure on the property. The county, however, did not record the deed, because it did not want to take on the environmental responsibilities of the property.

Now that STEL, Inc. has a plan in place to demolish the property and construct a 54 senior apartment building, the county is ready to obtain title and pass it along to the developer.

“In case there’s a question later on by any of the descendants of Mr. (John) Sack, the title company wanted us to stand behind the county attorney in their foreclosure action,” Tyler explained.

Tyler said if there were problems when the county issued a tax foreclosure back 18 years ago, the county has agreed to fix those legal errors. The county IDA, with Tuesday’s action, is stating it will stand behind what the county attorney does to help ensure a clean title.

Geise said this request is being done following a request by the title insurance company. “There’s a two year statute of limitations where any of the interested parties could challenge, so we’re standing behind the county’s process to say we ensure a clean title,” he said.

Tyler said this action is not delaying the project, but if the IDA didn’t pass the resolution Tuesday, he said it could have affected the timeline.

“We think it’s going to close in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Geise added that STEL is still finalizing its financing. Once the title issue is settled and the financing is in place, the old building will be torn down.

“We’re looking at probably this summer for demo to occur. That’s the goal,” he said.

Once the building is demolished, STEL would like to begin construction immediately afterward.

In an earlier interview, Thomas Whitney with STEL, Inc. said it’s going to take 12-14 months to build.

STEL, which stands for Southern Tier Environments for Living, Inc. is partnering with Park Grove Development on the housing project.