MARBLEHEAD — Ten months after the Gerry School was forced to close, a committee is in place to nail down potential reuse options for the 112-year-old building.
The school was shut down because of a leaking steam pipe, which was later determined to be covered in asbestos, according to a presentation given at a School Committee meeting in February. In September, the School Committee moved forward with an agenda to transfer control of the building to the Board of Selectmen and a month later the Gerry School Reuse Committee was formed.
“The board created the committee so due diligence could be done before the transfer is voted on at Town Meeting in May,” said Town Administrator and Committee Chair Jason Silva. “If the vote is approved we will be ready and able to discuss what viable development options exist for the building and property.”
Along with Silva, the committee includes two Board of Selectmen members, Jackie Belf-Becker and M.C. Moses Grader, two neighborhood representatives, Felix Amsler and Gene Arnold, Town Planner Rebecca Curran Cutting, Old and Historic Commission member Sally Sands, Planning Board member Edward Nilsson, and Finance Committee member Blair Nelson.
Shortly after the committee was formed, Silva said they issued a request for qualifications to assist in two things: to determine viable reuse options and to help facilitate the public process that is going to occur as part of the committee’s work, such as hiring a consultant with experience in historic, adaptive building reuse.
An introductory meeting was held on Tuesday, where the committee was guided on a walking tour of the Elm Street building by Ken Lord, executive director of technology and operations for the school department.
Lord said the town’s oldest school building needs a complete rehabilitation, from the roof, to the windows, to the boiler system, which was built in 1953 and is heated with oil. It is also not handicapped accessible, he said.
“I would say the tour was valuable for us to see the current conditions of the building and start envisioning what might be possible on site,” said Silva.
After the school’s initial closing, an in-depth study of the building was done, according to the final draft of the request for qualifications. It was in connection with a larger, $750,000 feasibility study for all the town’s elementary schools, organized by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, a quasi-independent government authority that helps fund the construction of school buildings.
According to the request, the study’s information included historical and architectural analysis, building condition assessment, and building code analysis. The study found the former kindergarten and first grade school building had both roof and system failures, and kept it vacant ever since.
“The reuse committee has to decide what the public wants to do with the building, whether they want to keep it or sell it,” said Lord.
Silva said the committee is not quite ready to brainstorm any ideas regarding potential reuses. The reuse consultant proposals they are seeking are expected to be due at the end of November, he said. Once that happens they will begin soliciting public comment from residents and neighbors of the building in what they would like to see there.
“We will consider all options, narrow them down from there, and determine what is feasible,” said Silva.
