LYNN — The city of Lynn will put out a request for proposals (RFP) for the former Thurgood Marshall Middle School property on Porter Street.
The City Council voted Tuesday to put out the RFP, which will include input from the School Committee.
“This has been going on for several years,” said City Council President Darren Cyr during the council’s Public Safety and Public Health subcommittee meeting. “We are working with the School Committee to figure out a way to fix the building or tear it down.”
The building has not been occupied since 2016 and is in deteriorating condition. Cyr said it has been subjected to vandals and others breaking in, as well as drug use and other crime.
“If we’re not able to sell this building in a reasonable amount of time to a developer, we have to start taking a look at how we’re going to secure the building,” he said. “Whether putting a police officer or firefighter at the location, putting cameras on the building, putting a 10-foot fence around the building or hiring a private security company.”
Building Commissioner Michael Donovan said that his department is looking into fencing in the site and bricking up the windows of the basement and first and second floors to prevent people from entering.
“It would make the building a little less open to entry,” Donovan said. “That’s probably the best we can do, short of bricking up all the windows in the building, which would be an eyesore and very expensive.”
In recent months, the building has been a point of contention between the council and School Committee. The council wishes to sell the property, as it would be incredibly expensive to demolish or redevelop, but the School Committee is reluctant, as the city does not have much more land on which to build new schools.
