Durham School Services leases Covington Pike dealership for bus training

by MICHELLE CORBET

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After the Shelby County Board of Education set new standards for school bus service provider Durham School Services, the company has leased a former used car dealership for a new facility geared toward training and recruitment.

Durham School Services, the school bus service provider for Shelby County Schools, has signed a long-term lease agreement to establish a new regional office in the former Frankie’s used care dealership at 2471 Covington Pike.

After Frankie’s founder and owner Frankie Alexander died, his wife, Shelly Alexander, made the decision to lease the facility, said Patty Bullock, Gill Properties broker, who represented the landlord in the lease agreement.

Bullock said the facility will not be used to store Shelby County School buses but will be a corporate facility focused on training and recruiting employees. As a used car dealership, the facility is also equipped to service school buses, she said.

The 16,600-square-foot former used care dealership located on 3.15 acres was an ideal fit for the school bus company as it contains modifiable signage and interior balconies that will enable management to oversee training operations, Bullock said.

The Commercial Appeal reported the Shelby County Board is likely to approve Durham’s $27.8 million contract for the upcoming school year, but the company must meet new requirements in order to get the 2.5 percent increase it has requested for the following year.

Requirements include having 105 percent of the drivers it needs, fewer than nine preventable accidents per month and fewer than 11 mechanical errors per bus.

Durham pledged it would add four staffing recruiters, six additional mechanics and additional safety and training managers to meet the Board’s requirements.

Bullock said the recently signed lease of Frankie’s “dovetails perfectly” with the new requirements from Shelby County Schools.

Jacque Beeson, associate broker with CB Richard Ellis, represented Durham School Services in the lease agreement.

“It addresses everything they were looking for in a space, while also addressing Shelby County’s’ needs,” she said.

Durham School Services could not be reached to confirm if the additional staff members would be housed in the new recruitment and training facility on Covington Pike.