With the economy and real estate market in a downward spiral, the Tombstone Unified School District plays the waiting game for the sale of the former Tombstone High School to Desert Life LLC to finalize.

Today is the deadline for Roger Walters and Ben Brannon of Desert Life II LLC to deposit $50,000 in earnest funds to move forward with the sale. 

“We’re really waiting on approval for the finances,” Walters said. “The distribution of funds. Like, you have a bank account, paydays and things. We’re waiting for payday.” 

The sale was originally scheduled to close on November 20 but that date has been pushed back until December 19 at the earliest. The earnest funds need to be received before the sale can move forward, said Barbara Highfield of Tombstone Real Estate. 

Walters and Brannon successfully submitted a contract on July 8 for the property, which included the school building, football field, gymnasium and science building. The sale is expected to fetch close to $3.6 million. 

The men plan to turn the former high school into a western-themed attraction and hotel.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to meet what our expectations and our goals are—and that is to meet this date,” Walters added “We remain really excited about doing it. We’re really ready to go and we’ve gone as far as we can go until the financing package is approved.”

The school district plans to use the funds from the sale to build new athletic fields and purchase new equipment for students.

But those plans are on hold until the sale is finalized.

“Right now, we haven’t really begun anything because we don’t know what’s going on,” said Karl Uterhardt, Tombstone Unified School District superintendent. “But basically everything has to be put on hold (if the transaction fall through). We don’t have the funding we need to do the projects we’re talking about.”

If the sale falls through, the district will have to wait for another buyer to make an offer, which given the tough economic environment, may take some time.

“I’m hopeful and confident that it’s going to happen, but if it doesn’t, you know, we’ll plug along and keep doing what we need to do,” Uterhardt said. “But there’s no way were going to do those projects as it is right now. There’s not enough money for it.”