SWAMPSCOTT — A report by the Hadley School Reuse Advisory Committee released Tuesday lists the three proposed possibilities for the use of the town’s oldest school building, including mixed commercial use, affordable housing or a boutique hotel.
In a presentation to the Select Board Tuesday night, members of the committee explained the extensive research they conducted since they began meeting in January, and told board members that these scenarios would be the best use of the Hadley School building, which was built in 1911, if a new town-wide elementary school is built.
The report also explains that while the town could feasibly retain ownership of the property, it cannot act as the developer. It also laid out that the design of the property’s outdoor space is incredibly important to the public, and that the town should move forward with the redevelopment process while the building is still in use as a school to prevent it from being left vacant.
For all three scenarios, the existing 1925 annex would be demolished to make space for parking and open space or a new addition.
“We realized that the annex was really inefficient in its layout,” said committee Chair Steve Perdue. “Every floor is at a different elevation from the existing building, making it difficult to solve ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) challenges, and the position on the site close to Redington Street made parking and open space layout really difficult.”
All three designs include a playground, patios, sitting areas and community plazas or gathering spaces. Each preliminary design also allows for approximately 50 parking spaces.
The first scenario is a mixed-use commercial use, with the basement and first floor housing arts and community uses, and the first through third floors open to commercial tenants, such as stores, office space or cafes. The auditorium could be reused as a function or performance space, and the site of the existing annex would be used for parking and green space.
Two likely development approaches would involve either an anchor tenant that would also develop the building or a traditional redevelopment with tenants entering into leases afterward. In either case, the building would be owned in a public-private partnership with a long-term ground lease for the developer and potential condo-ization of spaces in the building.
The second scenario would use the building for senior affordable housing, which requires less space and parking than family units. The building, with a new addition replacing the existing annex, can accommodate approximately 40 one-bedroom units for seniors ages 55 and older.
The town has a large number of seniors in need, with projections from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council predicting that Swampscott’s senior population will double by 2030. Swampscott is also well below the state’s mandated 10 percent affordable housing, at less than 4 percent.
The design would also include a ground-floor public space, most likely one with a civic use that serves the community.
Much of the costs for this scenario could potentially be covered by low-income housing tax credits, along with the town’s affordable housing trust and other grant funding.
The final scenario proposed by the committee is a boutique hotel, which would include an interior courtyard, eating area and event space in the existing auditorium, and provide an overnight-stay opportunity in town. Approximately 51 rooms would be located on floors one to three of the main Hadley building and floors two to three of a new addition. The new addition would also house a lobby and coffee bar.
Both this scenario and that of affordable housing would be owned by the town, which would offer a 99-year ground lease.
“Boutique hotels have become more popular in the last decade. There’s a focus on authenticity,” Perdue said. “A historic building like this would potentially make it eligible for historic tax credits. It also lends the building a unique historic character, which is attractive to hotel developers.”
Senior Planner Molly O’Connell recommended the town put out a request for information (RFI) to gauge interest in the redevelopment project, which the town did for the Machon School before it was redeveloped into affordable housing.
“My recommendation is to use the scenarios as guidance in the development of this RFI,” she said. “The next step is to see how the market responds and see what interest is out there for some of the ideas we brought to the table.”
Hadley will only be redeveloped if residents vote later this fall to approve a debt exclusion for the construction of the new elementary school and the current school is deemed excess.
Town meeting members will vote Sept. 13 on whether to approve the new elementary school. Also on the warrant is an article to place a deed restriction on the Hadley property prohibiting it from being used for market-rate housing.
