A new, more prominent for-sale sign recently appeared at the entrance to more than seven acres of vacant land at 1099 Colegate Drive, the property occupied until four years ago by North Hills Elementary School.

The land has been subdivided into residential lots, most of which are about two-thirds of an acre.

North Hills closed in 2003, part of a reorganization of Marietta City Schools as the district adapted to declining student populations. The property sat idle until the board of education decided to sell it in 2008.

Bill Hutchinson, who is still on the board, said the obstacle was the school building.

“The cost of tearing it down would have been prohibitive,” he said. “We looked at it both ways, and we thought the cost would be more than it was worth.”

The board attempted to auction the property in 2008 without success, according to board meeting minutes — no bids were received — but Brunton Development Co., Ltd., and BRB Development Co. offered to buy it several years later.

Hutchinson said the developer approached the district about buying it.

“The price wasn’t humungous,” he said. “We were just trying to put a piece of property back on the tax rolls instead of paying for maintenance on the building.”

The sale was approved by the board in April 2012, when it accepted an offer of $61,500.

The building was demolished the following year.

Eric Lambert, project engineer for the city of Marietta, said he recalls the developer applied to divide the land into six to eight residential building lots but decided not to go through with the original plan to develop the property. He said there were no problems with the property that were unusual for Marietta.

“The terrain is hilly, like a lot of Marietta, ” he said. “There are slip-prone soils, and we want to make sure situations like that are a recipe for disaster.”

The platting of the land was accepted by Marietta City Council at a meeting in late October 2013, with the expectation that BRB would proceed with the process of registering the housing development with the county, but after that, nothing further happened with the land.

Betty Fleming lives on Hickory Lane, adjacent to the property. She said she’s had concerns over the years about how the land might be developed.

“The homeowners are concerned about what might go in over there,” she said. “I wish some nice project, a nice residential area, would go in there. I really think the school should have stayed there. It had a beautiful playground and lots of expansion room, but we didn’t get our way.”

Bruce Brunton of BRB was contacted for this story but declined to comment. The Times was unable to locate the property on any listing service and could not determine the listing price.

At a glance

1099 Colegate Drive

¯ Land area: Slightly more than 7 acres.

¯ Previous use: North Hills Elementary School.

¯ School closed: 2003.

¯ Land sold by Marietta City Schools: 2012.

¯ Building demolished: 2013.

¯ Zoning: R-1 (residential).