Officials of the Jemicy School say they are looking to unload the Towson properties that formerly housed its upper school.

A nonprofit school for college-bound students with dyslexia and other language-related learning challenges, Jemicy had operated its upper school -- for grades nine to 12 -- in two adjacent Towson properties, 301 and 303 W. Chesapeake Ave., until this past September.

"Our hope is that we can sell it in a short amount of time," said Jemicy's head of school, Ben Shifrin.

"I am aware there have been several people through the property already," he said.

The Jemicy upper school is now located at 11202 Garrison Forest Road in Owings Mills. The new school is roomier than the Towson properties, and just a four-mile drive from Jemicy's lower and middle schools, which are located at 11 Celadon Road.

Shifrin said the upper school moved out because the two buildings on the Towson property were getting overcrowded.

"We had kids in nooks and crannies," he said.

Shifrin also said the wide-open spaces around the rural Garrison Forest Road location allow for more outdoor activities for upper school students; activities that weren't possible at their more urban Towson location.

"There really wasn't space in Towson to do the curriculum the way we wanted to do it," he said.

Jemicy has an enrollment of 275 students, 100 of whom are in the upper school, according to Shifrin.

He said he didn't know who has toured the Towson property because the sales process is essentially out of his hands -- he said Jemicy's board of trustees will ultimately decide whom to sell to, and for how much.

Shifrin described the Towson properties as "prime space for somebody."

The land is about three acres at the southwest corner where Chesapeake and Bosley avenues intersect.

It is diagonally across the intersection from the Baltimore County Circuit Court building and a few blocks from downtown Towson, Towson Town Center and Towson University.

The property is zoned R-O (residential office), a designation that also means it could be used for dwelling units; up to 5.5 units per acre. According to information from the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, in 2008 the two properties together, including buildings, were valued at a bit more than $2.3 million.

Though Shifrin said he couldn't speak for the trustees in regard to what type of buyer the school hoped to find, he did share a personal hope.

"My sense is I would love to see another school," he said.

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