Marleigh Graves renovations on hold

SAUGUS – The road to renovating the Marleigh Graves School has hit a pretty big bump, but Janice Jarosz said the renovation efforts haven’t crashed yet.Renovations received a huge boost earlier this year when Joe Kennedy of Saugus Cable Community Television announced he would be taking over the entire upper floor of the school. Kennedy said the cable access board would oversee and help fund the total rehabilitation of the second floor to make it studio-ready.The deal was a sweet one for MEG, the non-profit group headed by Jarosz, trying to turn the defunct school into a community center. It would get a solid tenant, which came with funding to help with a big chunk of the restoration costs for the building.But then Kennedy backed out.Jarosz admitted she was initially devastated by the news.”I felt we had wasted so much time,” she said.Because Kennedy had promised to take on a lot of expensive renovations, Jarosz said time that could have been spent seeking grants or funding was spent otherwise.The loss of Kennedy as a tenant not only leaves MEG with a financial burden it thought it had solved, but also with the need for new tenants to fill the space.In the few weeks since Kennedy announced his intentions to step away from the Marleigh Graves deal Jarosz has regrouped.”We’re doing okay,” she said. “We’re continuing our window campaign, which has been successful and we’re launching a fundraiser at the end of February or beginning of March to underwrite the heating system.”Jarosz said she is also meeting with a representative from Lowe’s Home Improvement, which has offered to help with repairs.”And we have six or seven grant applications we’re in the process of writing,” she added.Jarosz said MEG board members plan to use the winter to get grants and other paperwork in order and focus on fundraising so in the spring they could hit the ground running in regards to renovations.She also said she is not counting Kennedy out of the picture just yet.According to Town Manager Andrew Bisignani, Kennedy is still shopping around for a location for the local cable station.Bisignani said after Kennedy backed out of the Marleigh Graves deal he turned his sites on an open room the Senior Center had available for rent.Bisignani said he initially thought Kennedy and the Senior Center would be a perfect fit, but Thursday he said that would not work either.”The Senior Center is looking for something more compatible,” Bisignani said.Instead of cable TV, Bisignani said the center has its eye on attracting an adult daycare program, which leaves Kennedy homeless once again.”It’s definitely not over,” Jarosz said. “We will still try and renegotiate with (Kennedy). It would still be a good deal for both of us.”