The UA System Board of Trustees unanimously approved a motion for the University to purchase the former campus of Northington Elementary School on Tuesday, June 15. 

The University will purchase the property for $4 million from the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education, well above the $3.66 million appraisal value. 

Northington, which operated from 1967 to 2018, closed in accordance with Tuscaloosa City Schools’ facilities plan. 

Northington Elementary School sits adjacent to Snow Hinton Park on McFarland Boulevard East. The University owns a lot beside Northington and behind Bowlero. According to the UA Game Day website, the lot is used for multi-day recreational-vehicle parking. 

“The University of Alabama is pleased to move forward with the planned purchase of this facility and land, which provides access to adjacent UA property,” the University said in a statement. “The acquisition of this real estate provides future opportunity for appropriately planned University development.”

Without ownership of the Northington Elementary School property, access to the RV parking lot was limited because the road used to access the lot is within the bounds of the Northington campus. 

“We appreciate the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees and the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education for this opportunity to consolidate our holdings in the area, some of which have been owned by the University since the late 1940s,” the UA statement said. 

The purchase of the nearly 10-acre property will bring UA’s total land ownership in the area around Snow Hinton Park to about 18 acres.