Elementary School Reuse

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Introduction

The City of Easthampton is in the process of preparing for the reuse of three elementary school properties. In January 2020, the Easthampton Downtown Strategic Plan was completed and provides strategies to enhance economic development opportunities in the Downtown and strengthen the Cottage Street and Union Street corridor as a commercial center and a creative heart of the community. The Plan establishes coordinated vision and action items for the Downtown including redevelopment opportunities, shared parking, and pedestrian enhancements.

Elementary School Reuse Committee

The downtown planning process identified next steps to form an elementary school reuse committee (Steering Committee) and to prepare and seek Requests for Proposals from developers. The general role of the steering committee will be to:

Participate in scheduled meetings (approximately 1 per month for approximately 1.5 years) to review and provide feedback on the RFP to be developed by the Project Team.
Share their insight on the opportunities and challenges on pertinent topics based on your knowledge of the City, Downtown and the different constituencies and stakeholders you represent.
Act as a liaison between different committee, boards or organization you represent and share the feedback from these forums with the Project Team.
Prepare a written recommendation to the City Council and Mayor of Easthampton with regard to the nature and extent of the RFP seeking the most community benefit for the City of Easthampton.

The current membership for the committee is:

Joe McCoy - Chair
Patrick Brough - Council on Aging
Chris Korzcak - Economic Development and Industrial Committee (EDIC)
Brad Riley - Affordable Fair Housing Partnership
Tracey Harris - Historical Commission
Pamela Means - Resident
Lauren Clark - Resident

School re-use RFP strategy

The Downtown Plan establishes a community-based vision for the future reuse of Center, Pepin and Maple Street elementary schools. Chapter 5 of the Downtown Plan includes a baseline evaluation of each building, summarizes community feedback on desired uses, school reuse scenarios, and establishes building reuse criteria.

The next phase of the project is to examine available information about the schools, consider realistic funding sources and development options, create RFP criteria, and to prepare an RFP that will result in the highest likelihood for redevelopment of the buildings and/or school sites. The RFP will be sent to City Council, then to the Mayor before it is released. The committee will use existing and pending data and research to and provide all the information for public review, including for review by City Council, residents, and potential developers.

The timeline is subject to change but currently seeks to release an RFP in late summer 2022 and intends to coincide with the schools becoming vacant as of July 2022.

Project information

Memo on Disposition Process, dated September 15, 2021
“Draft” white paper on precedent (information about other similar RFP’s)
One Stop For Growth Grant application (City is seeking $100,000 for due diligence)(Submitted July 14, 2021; status is pending)
Maple Elementary School Preliminary Design Program, December 16, 2016 (NOTE: this is the entire document used to submit to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. It is a very large file)
Maple Elementary School Preliminary Design Program (excerpt of existing conditions evaluations for Maple, Center & Pepin
Draft Criteria for Discussion, December 7, 2021
Preliminary timeline presentation, February 8, 2022
City Council packet for MassDevelopment due diligence, January 13, 2022
Initial first draft of RFP, March 7, 2022
Valley CDC Report "affordable housing fit test", March 4, 2022
Community Theater letter of interest, April 5, 2022
Second draft of RFP, April 7, 2022
April 7, 2022 letter to School Committee (surplus vote)
Third draft of RFP, May 6, 2022
Emily Williston Library vote letter, May 10, 2022
School Department operational cost summary, May 12, 2022
Draft FAQ, May 23, 2022
MassDevelopment Conceptual Design Plans and cost estimate (Center/Pepin)
MassDevelopment Conceptual Design Plans and cost estimate (Maple)
Existing condition survey (Center/Pepin)
Utility Assessment (Center/Pepin)
Existing condition survey (Maple)
Utility Assessment (Maple)
Appraisal (Center), Crowley Associates, May 24, 2022
Appraisal, (Pepin), Crowley Associates, May 24, 2022
Appraisal (Maple), Crowley Associates, May 24, 2022
CPA committee letter of support, May 19, 2022
City Council Transmittal letter - Draft RFP & Disposition process, May 26, 2022 (packet includes):
1. Cover letter
2. Draft RFP
3. FAQ
4. Draft resolution & votes
City Council Property Subcommittee minutes, July 18, 2022 (site visit)
City Council Property Subcommittee, August 17, 2022 (video)(minutes)
City Council Property Subcommittee, August 31, 2022 (minutes)
City Council Property Subcommittee, September 8, 2022 (video)
City Council Property Subcommittee, September 14, 2022 (video)
City Council public hearing on disposition and release of RFP, September 21, 2022 (video)
Mayor LaChapelle Affordable Housing Press Release & Proclamation, August 22, 2022
City Council Packet - Final Draft RFP, September 21, 2022
DHCD Final 40R Letter of Approval, September 28, 2022

February 17, 2023

On February 16, 2023, the City of Easthampton received three proposals for the potential redevelopment of the elementary schools. The RFP was released on October 12, 2022 and established the City's goals and set a due date of noon on February 16th for proposals to be received.

The City received the following proposals:

Maple - Wayfinders - Click here to view Wayfinders proposal

Maple, Center, Pepin - NHP Foundation - Click here to view the NHP proposals

Maple, Center, Pepin - Arch Communities - Click here to view the Arch Communities proposal

As outlined on page 28 of the RFP, the next step of the process will be for an Evaluation Committee appointed by the Mayor to review and rank the proposals pursuant to the evaluation criteria listed on pages 29-30 of the RFP and make a recommendation to City Council prior to March 31. Based on this timeline, City Council could begin its review and decision making process in April.

March 3, 2023 - Evaluation Committee

The Mayor appointed the following people to serve on the Evaluation Committee:

Salem Derby, City Councilor

Megan Harvey, School Committee

Greg Nuttelman, DPW Director

Jeff Bagg, City Planner

Michael Owens, Procurement Officer

The City is maintaining consulting support from Emily Innes who helped prepare the RFP and she will be assisting the City (including the City Council) through the selection process for a preferred developer.

The Evaluation Committee met in a public meeting on March 1, 2023.

To view the slideshow from the meeting, click here.

To watch the meeting, click here.

The Evaluation Committee met in a public meeting on March 16, 2023.

To watch the meeting, click here.

The Evaluation Committee met in a public meeting on March 28, 2023.

To watch the meeting, click here.

(updated March 22) March 17, 2023 - Interviews

As part of the RFP process, the Evaluation Committee will conduct interviews with the three teams who submitted proposals for the elementary schools. These interviews will include approximately 30 minute presentations followed by questions from the Evaluation Committee. No other questions will be allowed, but the interviews will be available to watch (virtually) live and will be recorded and posted here.

(WATCH THE INTERVIEWS) The recorded interviews are available here:

Monday, March 20th at 4 p.m. - Wayfinders (Maple St): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y1tTbJWWSux2t3PW9UTTDAzCzjCKmoZb/view?usp=share_link
Tuesday, March 21, at 4:30 p.m. - NHP (Center, Pepin & Maple): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dL1ORBwYRLBrZWrDsA0aIp3CnBmUAbmc/view?usp=share_link
Wednesday, March 22, at 4:30 p.m. - Arch (Center, Pepin & Maple): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PFBS_iSOHxf2UEFMXzaRaXrCI4fhpKmm/view?usp=share_link

The role of the Evaluation Committee is to objectively rank the proposals against the criteria listed in the RFP.

To view the sample ranking sheet to be used by the Evaluation Committee, click here.

The purpose of the Evaluation Committee is expected to submit a recommendation of the highest ranked proposal to City Council by March 30th. City Council will then review the proposal in the Property Subcommittee and make a final recommendation to the full City Council who will hold a public hearing and decide whether to accept the proposal or not.

Public comments should be submitted to City Council.

April 19, 2023

The Evaluation Committee completed it's ranking of the proposals on March 28, 2023. The recommendation was provided to the City Council via a letter from the City's Consultant dated March 29, 2023.

Click here to view the March 29 letter ranking Arch Communities to the full City Council.

The City Council property subcommittee is scheduled to meet on April 27, 2023 at 6 p.m. to discuss the proposal.

Click here to view a letter from NHP, dated April 18, 2023

Click here to view the Innes memorandum to City Council, dated April 21, 2023

Click here to view the City response letter to NHP, dated April 24, 2023

Click here to view the final Memorandum/Recommendation from the Property Subcommittee to the full City Council dated May 4, 2023

The full City Council has set a public hearing for 6:15 p.m. on May 17, 2023.