School finding future as housing

By an 8-to-0 vote, the Town Council on June 22 authorized the sale of the Grovers Avenue building and 57,499 square feet of land for $1.3 million to EBCDC Inc., of East Boston, according to council president Thomas E. Reilly, on whose recommendation the council acted.

The nonprofit, which is affiliated with the for-profit East Boston Community Development Corp., submitted the highest of three bids for the property. It plans to restore the 89-year-old brick building and convert it to 27 units of affordably priced rental housing for people 62 and older.

In a previous bidding round in 2007, the council approved selling the former school for $2 million to a New Hampshire developer, who planned to raze it and construct a 37-unit condominium. But after the sale stalled because the developer was unable to secure financing, the town in February decided to drop its dealings with the firm and seek new proposals for the site.

“It’s taken a long period of time,’’ Reilly said of the effort to sell the property. “If it had gone through faster, we might have been in a position to see more money for the site. But it’s a good project. It’s a good re-use of the property and I think it’s more compatible’’ with the neighbor hood than the previous development proposal.

Reilly noted that while the recently accepted bid is $700,000 lower than the one accepted in 2007, the actual difference in proceeds could be closer to $250,000. That lower figure takes into account the fact that EBCDC has promised to pay the town about $200,000 to compensate for the development’s use of town services.

Plus, the town would have had to reduce $250,000 from the sale price of the prior proposal to cover the costs of removing coal ash from the soil, Reilly said. It does not face that cost with the current project because no soil will be disturbed by construction.

“I think it’s the best alternative we have at this time,’’ Reilly said. “And I think it’s not a good idea to continually have a virtually abandoned building sitting in that neighborhood.’’

The Dalrymple School was built in 1920 and opened in 1921 to replace the Almont Street School, a wooden building that burned in 1920. Originally known as the Highlands School, the grammar school was built on the site of the Leighton House, a summer resort, according to John Vitagliano, a Winthrop resident and consultant to EBCDC who is serving as the firm’s manager for the Dalrymple project.

In 1973, the school was renamed after Arthur W. Dalrymple, who had been a popular Winthrop teacher and later the town’s school superintendent for 15 years until his retirement that year. He died in 1987.

The town declared the building surplus in 2004 following the opening of the Gorman School. The three-story Dalrymple building has been vacant since.

Prior to the 2007 request for proposals, the town adopted zoning rules that allowed multi-unit residential development of the site.

Vitagliano said when the town first sought proposals for the site, the organization, one of whose missions is developing affordable housing, saw it as an “an ideal fit.’’

“We specialize in converting older vacant school buildings into affordable housing,’’ said Vitagliano, noting that the corporation has carried out five such projects in Boston.

“We just fall in love with these buildings because they end up preserving the history of the neighborhood and the community around them,’’ said Albert Caldarelli, president and chief executive officer of EBCDC. “And they adapt so well to housing because of the large rooms and ceilings.’’

EBCDC was the second highest bidder in 2007, when it offered $1.75 million. When the town issued a new request for proposals this April, the firm decided to bid again.

Caldarelli is confident that EBCDC, which plans to manage the property, will have no difficulty getting financing and filling the units.

“There will be long waiting lists before we even get in the ground,’’ he said. “We manage around 500 units of elderly housing and we have waiting lists right now.’’

Vitagliano said in addition to meeting a local housing need, the project would be a financial benefit for the town, providing an estimated $30,000 a year in local taxes, on top of the one-time purchase and development payment. If all goes well, construction would begin in the spring of 2010 and take about a year to complete.