[MassHistPres] PRESENT, ONGOING, LATE 19TH-20TH CENTURY SCHOOL BUILDING REUSE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

[Emily Hutchings]

The City of Beverly recently sold the old Briscoe Middle School (built in
the 1920s) to undergo redevelopment into affordable senior housing and
artist studio space.  The City had established that preserving the historic
school building was a priority, and through the identification of other
community priorities (preservation of the landscape and open space areas,
and uses such as affordable housing, senior housing, co-working or
commercial space, artist live/work space, etc.) issued an RFP for the
property's redevelopment.  The proposal that the City ultimately selected
includes 85 affordable senior apartments, 6 artist studios, preservation of
the open space on the site (including a recreation field and an historic
turf bowl), and preservation of the historic theater/auditorium in the
building.

The process provided the City with the flexibility to identify priorities
and select the proposal that was the best fit for the City. We ended up
getting four great proposals, and the project is currently underway with
strong community support.

Best,

Emily Hutchings
Assistant Planning Director
Beverly MA

On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 10:45 AM sally milne <urbanosally at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am also interested as we have a similar situation and schoolhouse to
> save.
> Sally Urbano
> Captains’ Row
> West Harwich
>
> > On Feb 18, 2021, at 11:57 PM, Richard McGrath <
> mastermasonmcgrath at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Greetings. I am looking for a community that has an in progress  reuse
> rehab project of an old school building that I could use as a model to
> present to the town of Lunenburg as an alternative to the demolition of our
> early 20th century primary school.. Presently conveyance of the idea of
> such a building having any use, despite many past examples of the reuse of
> old school buildings in surrounding communities, has been unsuccessful. I
> thought that if I had an example from a city or town that had an old school
> that was presently in the act of being rehabbed, people might be able to
> relate to the idea better........if they thought it was a worthwhile idea
> to save and reuse the old school, then why can't we?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Richard McGrath, Chair, Lunenburg APDC
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>
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-- 

Emily Hutchings, AICP

*City of Beverly*

*Assistant Planning Director*

*978-605-2342*

*ehutchings at beverlyma.gov <ehutchings at beverlyma.gov>*
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