Is Adelaide’s east finally about to get a new school? The old Massada College site has been sold

THE site of former school, inside one of the most sought-after school zones in Adelaide, has been sold after 1000 days on the market. So what does it mean? Could the area finally be getting a new school?

Nearby Glenunga International High School is at full capacity, as is Linden Park Primary.

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A MYSTERY buyer has signed a deal to develop the old Massada College site, prompting fresh calls for the land to be used to help ease overcrowding in eastern suburbs classrooms.

Knight Frank retail director Tony Ricketts this week confirmed the site on Flemington St, Glenside, had finally sold, after more than 1000 days on the market.

Mr Ricketts said details about the buyer — and their plans for the site — would remain private until settlement on July 7.

But he hinted the land might be used for a school because of “very particular” zoning regulations for developments on the site.

“The site was zoned for specific purposes — educational, community and place of worship,” Mr Ricketts said. “The length of time it took to sell is probably a function of that.”

The college, Adelaide’s last Jewish school, closed after it went into voluntary administration in 2011.

A site shot of the former school at Glenside.

News of the sale has prompted renewed calls from Liberal MP Vickie Chapman for the State Government to open a primary school at the site to ease the strain on overcrowded classrooms in the district.

The Eastern Courier Messenger last month reported Rose Park Primary School had frozen enrolments for 2017 as it waits on the Education Department to finalise a cap on student numbers.

It came after Linden Park Primary last year accepted only Reception students to help reduce overcrowding.

Linden Park Primary has an enrolment freeze.

Ms Chapman said a new school at the Massada College site was needed to meet demand from the planned 1000-home estate at the old Glenside Hospital.

The Education Department this week ruled out financing a new school on the site. “The potential purchase of Massada College is not under consideration,” the department’s infrastructure executive director Ross Tredwell said.

A spokesman for the government’s preferred developer for the Glenside Hospital project, Cedar Woods, said the company was not the mystery buyer.