Phenix City BOE purchases Troy's Phenix City campus
The Phenix City Board of Education, or PCBOE, unanimously voted to purchase the former Troy Phenix City campus.
The campus, which formally closed in December 2025, had an estimated value of over $16 million. PCBOE purchased the building for a downpayment of $800,000, with a finance plan of $10 million over the course of 10 years. Troy University also agreed to leave the building fully furnished for no additional cost.
“I feel like we hit the lottery,” said Phenix City Schools Superintendent Nathan Walters. “I think it's huge for our school district and our city.
“Timing is everything, and I just think right now, the time is for Phenix City Schools.”
The current buildings housing the PCBOE are in disrepair and are spread across the city. The City of Phenix City will be purchasing the old buildings from PCBOE for around $2.5 million. Updating the buildings would have cost the board between $5-6 million.
According to Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Dr. Jim Bookout, there were no other schools or companies interested in purchasing the campus. The City of Phenix City had the right of first refusal to purchase the campus because the City donated the land that originally enabled Troy to build the campus.
The renovations have been pushed back for 15 years, with PCBOE electing to use funding to better the schools in the district instead. Purchasing the Troy University campus means having one central office for all employees, with extra space for partnerships, and the building itself needs very minor updates to be ready for PCBOE to take over.
The leftover funding from the purchase was used to invest and give teachers a $1,000 incentive. It will alsobe used to build a track at South Girard School, renovate the arts auditorium at Central High School and complete other minor renovations across schools in the district.
“You always put teachers and students first,” Walters said. “It's really exciting the amount of money we will save, and can build something like a track, give teacher incentives, do a new auditorium at central for the arts, I just think it's great, and I’m excited.”
For Troy, the sale of the campus means something a little different.
“The sale of the Phenix City campus means that Troy has exhausted all efforts to provide programs on the campus to attract and encourage students to enroll at that location,” Bookout said.
According to Bookout, over the course of the past few years, the campus experienced a transition from students enrolling in on-campus courses to enrolling in online courses. This resulted in a shift of revenue away from the Phenix City campus as costs to educate fewer on campus students continued to increase.
The university concluded that the campus would not be financial sustainable long term, and in closing the campus, will save money.
The Phenix City Board of Education says they will hopefully be able to fully transition into the building within 90 to 120 days.
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