LYNN — The City Council has approved a $2.5 million bid from a development company seeking to transform the former Thurgood Marshall Middle School property on Porter Street into affordable senior housing.
Approved on Tuesday night, the bid from East Boston Community Development Corporation was selected from five bidders who responded to a Request for Proposals (RFP) the city released last May, which aimed to redevelop the site into age-restricted affordable housing for those 55 and older.
The East Boston group plans to use the current building for its housing development and meet the city’s requested date of around 180 days to close on the sale of the property.
It was the third RFP the city has issued for the property; the past two attempts to sell the building were unsuccessful.
Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard, who chairs the council’s Public Property and Parks subcommittee, said he spent a day touring other properties that East Boston Community Development Corporation has built, saying that they have “done a remarkable job of converting old school buildings into housing, particularly senior housing.”
Starbard said the property has been a blight to the neighborhood since the school closed in 2015 and is also a major security issue with the number of fires that have happened there, along with people breaking into the building and stealing copper.
“The sooner we can free ourselves from this property … the better off we’ll be,” Starbard said.
City Council President Darren Cyr, also ward councilor for the area, said he knows finding a bidder for this property has been a long process, but the wish of the neighborhood is to keep this development as senior housing.
Councilor-at-Large Brian Field said East Boston Community Development Corporation was very specific in their plan regarding what they’re going to do for future senior tenants, including what programs and opportunities will be offered.
The first RFP for the property sought a minimum sales price of $4 million, but this most recent RFP did not have a minimum bid requirement.
The school was built in 1923 and now has a great deal of asbestos present, which poses a challenge for developers.
The City Council, its RFP subcommittee, and the School Committee worked together on the city’s most recent RFP, which absolves the city of all responsibility for any potential hazardous material at the 152,554-square-foot property.
While the City Council has approved the bid from East Boston Community Development Corporation, it still has to be brought before the School Committee — which has jurisdiction over the property — for a vote seeking authorization to transfer the property back to the city so it can commence the sale.
