The Tombstone Unified School District got its chair pulled out from underneath them. 

The school thought everything was put in place to get the deal done for the sale of the old high school on Fremont Street, but a last minute funding issue has put the school back on the market.

William Smith, of J&W Transformations, made an offer last year to buy the property, but that deal is now dead.

“The funding kind of just fell through at the very end,” said Karl Uterhardt, the district’s superintendent.

Smith has been in contact with a Cochise economic development group that has shown interest in the property, according to Uterhardt.

Smith was looking to renovate the school into a 1880s-themed hotel. The school is at the end of Fremont Street in a prime location.

The failure of the sale will have a big impact on Tombstone High School’s athletic department. The agreement that was in place would have provided new athletic fields for the football, baseball, softball and track teams.

Smith had agreed to provide those fields along with new bleachers and lights for the football team, a snack bar and relocation of the bus barn. After these projects were completed, Smith would have given the school $300,000 and the title would transfer over.

“It’s really going to effect all the athletics for Tombstone High School,” Uterhardt said. “If the funding doesn’t happen then those projects won’t happen. We would have to piecemeal those. Obviously we don’t get enough funding through the state to do all those projects all at once.”

Uterhardt estimated that the cost of all those projects would cost between  $1.5 million and $2 million.

The school has reduced the cost of the property. First listed four years ago at $3.9 million, it’s now down to $2 million. The property is listed at slightly less than 32,000-square feet and covers three blocks.

Barbara Highfield, the realtor, said the property is back on the market and other potential buyers have shown interest but none have made offers.

“There is a lot of property there, a lot of buildings,” Highfield said. “A person could buy parts of it so they don’t have to buy all of it.”