Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Why did Beech Brook sell their property in Pepper Pike?
Selling the 65-acre property enables Beech Brook to continue pursuing our mission of helping vulnerable children and families thrive. The proceeds from the sale will be added to our endowment to provide funding for more direct services. Beech Brook’s responsibility is to do what is best for the long-term viability of our organization and our ability to deliver on our mission.

When we put the property on the market in 2016, we were agnostic about its future use. Heritage Classical Academy offered us a fair price for the property for a use that fits within current zoning realities.

What is Heritage Classical Academy?
Heritage Classical Academy is a private school that provides classical Christian education to children from preschool through tenth grade. Heritage currently has locations in Bainbridge, Peninsula and Northfield.

How will Heritage Classical Academy use the 65-acre location?
Heritage’s purchase of the Beech Brook property is for a new school.

When are you moving?
As part of the agreement, Beech Brook has four months to find a new location and vacate the property in Pepper Pike.

How will the sale of the Beech Brook property in Pepper Pike affect services?
It won’t affect our services. In fact, the sale of the land will make services easier to perform. Since most staff members work with children and families in their homes, in schools, and in other community settings, their work requires minimal dedicated office space and will allow Beech Brook to move to a smaller, much less expensive administrative headquarters. The annual savings from this relocation, along with the proceeds from the sale of the property, will support many more services to vulnerable children and families in the Greater Cleveland area served by Beech Brook.

What services does Beech Brook currently offer in the community?
Beech Brook provides community-based services, which include more than 40 programs across Northeast Ohio. We help more than 8,000 families annually through strong school partnerships, a foster care network and a family center in the city of Cleveland.

Why didn’t you work with the city of Pepper Pike to make it a park?
Beech Brook’s property has been on the market since 2016, and we have never received a formal offer from the city of Pepper Pike nor from a nature conservancy, or any similar group, to purchase the property.

Will there be an increase in traffic?
The details of how Heritage configures the property is up to them. But there are options to make the entrances less congested.

How was the land originally used?
In 1917, the land was donated by the Wade family to house an orphanage that eventually became known as the Beech Brook Children’s Home. The children attended the neighboring Orange Schools.

In 1955, as awareness grew of the need to provide mental health services to the children coming into care, the agency transitioned from an orphanage to a residential treatment center for children with emotional and behavioral problems.

In 2016, Beech Brook closed its residential treatment cottages, which served about 54 children and teens, to fully focus on community-based programs that strengthen and support children and families.

Did closing Beech Brook’s residential treatment program factor into the need to sell the land?
Yes. Since closing our residential program, we no longer need, nor can we afford to maintain, this 65-acre property. We are obligated to do what is best for our community’s children and families. Therefore, we have decided to sell the land and use the proceeds to support our mission.

Was the current sale of the land according to the Wade family’s intent on how it should be used?
The donation of this land in 1917 by the Wade family was not a one-time gift, but part of their ongoing support. Generations of Wade family members served on the Beech Brook Board for well over 130 years and were actively involved in every transition, including the sale of the property built by the family in Cleveland in the 1870s. Astute businesspeople themselves, they understood that the organization must change as the needs of children and families change and to do that, it must remain financially viable. Today we continue to honor that intent by pursuing programs that keep children out of institutions, with their families and by making financially responsible decisions.