A Sioux Falls-based commercial real estate firm will help South Dakota university officials unload a 14-acre plot of land that once served as a campus for deaf children.

Bender Commercial Real Estate Services will help sell or lease the state-owned land that makes up the eastern swath of the former School for the Deaf campus, according to a Tuesday announcement from the company. Other parcels to the west have already been divided up and purchased by a number of different investors.

The existing state-owned land has been a topic of conversation and debate for the state Board of Regents, which oversees South Dakota's network of public colleges.

The board was encouraged by Gov. Dennis Daugaard last month to sell the land. Officials for the university system plan to sell the six acres of green space, but intend to keep three existing buildings and rent them out. That includes about 98,000 square feet of space, including classrooms, an indoor pool and a gymnasium.

Bender was hired as a consultant, to help the regents figure out what to do with the school and how to "maximize the income that can be derived," Executive Director Mike Rush said in an emailed statement.