Dear Friends,
As 2025 comes to an end, we are writing to let you know about some significant developments impacting Pine River Shares (PRS).
We were recently advised that the Bayfield School District intends to sell the property we currently lease from them and list it with a local real estate broker. While we have known for the past year that the school board was considering the sale, notice of the listing is sobering.
PRS has been blessed for nearly ten years to call Bayfield’s “old primary school” our home. However, long before we became tenants, we were communicating to the school district superintendents our interest in potentially buying the property if it ever became available for sale. We said this not because we’re “rolling in the dough,” but because we have big dreams and there was no other place available for us to be located and remain in Bayfield. Sadly, this is still true today.
Earlier this year when we became aware of the potential sale of the property, we examined our options, which include finding another home in Bayfield, moving out of Bayfield, buying or building another site, shuttering the organization, or trying to buy the property and remaining where we are. While housed in Bayfield, PRS serves the rural communities of the entire Pine River Valley. We initially searched the Bayfield area and then Ignacio for a potential new home to house our programs. We found no reasonable options.
The sale of the building and property doesn’t just impact Pine River Shares. Pediatric Partners of the Southwest and the Community Treehouse are local service providers, co-housed with us on the property, facing similar challenges if the property sells. Each of us having to consider program closures in the worst-case scenario.
In an effort to forestall an immediate sale of the property, last spring the current tenants proposed to the Bayfield School Board that we collectively take over the management of the property, assuming all operating costs and leasing responsibilities, and move forward with existing plans to create the Pine River Community Resource Center (CRC). A three-year triple net lease, that includes a first right of refusal, was signed by all parties in July.
Simultaneously, two of the partners, PRS and the Community Treehouse, advised the school district that we were joining forces in an effort to buy the property and that both organizations were making exploratory moves in that direction. Those moves include developing plans for a capital campaign and fundraising effort, identifying grant funding to support the purchase, obtaining a commercial property inspection, and retaining the services of an attorney to guide negotiations.
Our vision of creating a community resource center to provide critical services in our rural area was dramatically affirmed last fall when we received a $200,000 donation toward the purchase of the property to house the CRC!! This funding was given to us on the strength of the vision and confidence in the leadership to make it happen.
So here we are today, fueled by our collective vision and fully dedicated to the people and communities of the Pine. As of the first of December, the CRC is home to the Bayfield office of the Grief Center of the Southwest, the Bayfield Farmers Market, and AA and Al-Anon.
New partners are on the way.
With the light of 2026 on the horizon, we are optimistic about the opportunity to create a forever home for PRS and other providers of services that our communities need to ensure that all residents thrive. And we are committed to making it happen. We will need your help if the school district accepts our offer. Stay tuned for updates.
The future is unwritten. Together, we write it and make it known.
Best wishes for a great and transformative new year from your friends at Pine River Shares.