Detroit Public Schools announced yesterday that it is selling 200 abandonded buildings and properties racked up from school closures. DPS teamed up with the Detroit Works project and other groups to help sell buildings and properties for repurposing.  DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts called the reuse of the old schools "critically important” and urged businesses to buy the closed school buildings to help revive the economy in the city as well as generate revenue for DPS through property sales. 

Roberts told potetnial buyers at a conference Wednesday: “School buildings last longer than most businesses. If you can find other uses for these facilities, it’s a great help to the community where they are located.”

The buildings may be good enough for businesses, but apparently not for schools. DPS will be building eight new "state of the art" schools with federal bond funds. Half of those will be built this year, DPS reports: 

Detroit Public Schools will open four new schools in 2012 totaling $150 million of voter-approved investment that will provide some 4,500 students brand new learning environments that will replace older facilities.

Voters chose to support controversail Proposal S funding in 2009, bonds that will be re-paid by Detroit residents over the next 20 years:

Detroit Public Schools plans to build eight new schools and modernize 10 schools thanks to the passage of Proposal S, a bond referendum voters approved on Nov. 3 to take advantage of $500.5 million in stimulus dollars that President Barack Obama made available to build new schools and modernize existing schools. Under Proposal S, $246 million — nearly half of the bonds — will be re-paid at a 0% interest rate.