The real estate market is tough, but the Roanoke County School Board managed to find a buyer for the former Southview Elementary School on Peters Creek Road.

The state paid $2 million for 38,000-square-foot structure. Superintendent Lorraine Lange said the space will be used for a forensics lab.

The school board voted Thursday evening to appropriate the proceeds of the sale to the division's fund for major capital improvements, which will allow the board to proceed with construction and renovation projects at a time when the state budget forecast is grim.

Eighteen months ago, the school board drafted and prioritized a list of nine capital improvement projects. The first one, the renovation of the entrance to Cave Spring High School is complete. Four other renovations are under way at William Byrd High School and Cave Spring, Green Valley and Mount Pleasant elementary schools.

The board accepted a bid for a sixth project Thursday night, hiring Salem-based G&H Contracting Inc. to build a new Mason's Cove Elementary School for $9.8 million. Marty Misicko, the school system's director of operations, said the construction is possible because of an "advantageous market."

The combined bid for the four projects already under way came in at significant savings because of an intensely competitive market in an economic recession and that savings will be used at Mason's Cove.

The school board will proceed with tackling the seventh project on the list. The board on Thursday approved spending $1 million for architectural and engineering services to renovate Cave Spring Middle School and to designate $11 million for the renovation.

"We hope that money will be available for use at Cave Spring Middle School but it's also our hedge against very, very hard times should we need it," said school board member Jerry Canada, who represents the Hollins District.

Penny Hodge, the school system's assistant superintendent of finance, said the school board's cooperation four years ago with the county board of supervisors to establish reserve funds for capital projects has paved the way for these construction projects.

About $28 million worth of renovations were completed at Northside High School this year. Thursday evening's actions leave two projects on the list of capital improvements: renovating Glenvar High School and building a new elementary school in the southwestern part of the county.

The school board also on Thursday voted to spend about $1.2 million from the minor capital reserve fund to purchase 216 interactive whiteboards in the county's five middle schools, the Burton Center for Arts and Technology, as well as the Cave Spring, Glenvar and Hidden Valley schools. By purchasing the boards before the end of the calendar year, the school board will receive a buy-four-get-one-free offer. Every elementary classroom in the county has whiteboards.