WHATELY — Picking up a discussion from February, the Selectboard reaffirmed its interest in seeking a long-term lease for the former Whately Center School in hopes that a future tenant could take on some of the renovation costs.
At Wednesday’s Selectboard meeting, Town Administrator Brian Domina said the town’s position is the same as it was in February: a short- or long-term lease would provide the best opportunity to rehabilitate the Chestnut Plain Road building. Domina added that selling the building is “not the preferred path” of either the Selectboard, the Center School Visioning Committee or the Historical Commission.
Of the two leasing options, Domina and the Selectboard agreed a long-term lease could give the historical building, which was built in 1910 and has been vacant since September 2018, the best chance at a second life because otherwise, the town would need to invest money to fix its various issues.
“The condition of the building right now isn’t really conducive to us handing over the keys to somebody,” Domina explained. “It would require an investment of the town to get that building ready to lease to somebody on a short-term lease.”
The building’s finished area consists of 4,048 square feet. All of its mechanical systems, such as heat and wiring, need to be replaced. Other issues include inadequate insulation and that the building is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the Center School Visioning Committee’s March 2020 report.
Selectboard Chair Joyce Palmer-Fortune said any sort of repairs would require “substantial investments” into the building and while there are historical grants available, earning them could be difficult “unless we have a really compelling reason why this building needs to be saved.”
The Selectboard and Domina suggested long-term lease negotiations could include some sort of stipulation requiring the tenant to pay for repairs or renovations.
“There’s no guarantee we find someone that wants a long-term lease in exchange for doing those repairs,” Palmer-Fortune said. “But we don’t know if we don’t try.”
Selectboard member Fred Baron agreed with a long-term lease, pointing out that any renovations made by the town could push potential lessees away. Instead, he said letting the “potential tenant, assuming someone’s interested, make those fixes,” would be the best way for the town to proceed.
“If we renovate the building, do we renovate it for residential, renovate for offices, do we renovate it for retail?” Baron asked. “That limits our options, even for a short-term lease.”
The town plans to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) by the end of September, according to Domina. Once the RFP is issued, Domina estimated it will be open for at least a month, if not two, at which point the board will discuss the ideas that are brought forward.
The town put out a Request for Information (RFI) last year and Domina said there has been some interest expressed in the property.
“We hear whispers of general interest. The question is, we don’t really know until we put it out there if that general interest is someone willing to put money on the line,” Domina noted. “If somebody’s not interested, then the discussion changes as to what we do now.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.