It’s been a school building for nearly 100 years. And Cape Elizabeth will decide what it will become next.
The town is in the preliminary stages of considering alternative uses for what it’s calling the 1934 school building (though it was technically built in 1933).
A committee of town councilors, school board members and residents has been meeting regularly and compiling suggestions for municipal or commercial use or demolition of the building, which was recently valued at $1.5 million by Brandon Mitchell, a commercial broker. They presented a preliminary update at the council meeting on Aug. 10.
The committee will present its final recommendations, with projected cost estimates, in March. They’re evaluating options based on the cost and/or value to the town, market viability, community support and feasibility.
There will be opportunities for residents to provide input, in part through Flash Vote surveys, before the Town Council makes any final decisions.
The building was the town’s high school, and until 1955 there was an open air gymnasium on the second floor. It became the junior high when there was expansion on the southern end of the school property in 1960, and it was connected to Pond Cove Elementary School during a renovation in 1994.
With construction of a new middle school in the works, the old school building will no longer be needed for educational purposes. The new V-shaped building will sit next to the baseball field and be nestled into the hill, and the current middle school will be demolished, leaving behind the original school building.
Currently, the committee is considering municipal use, a sale or leasing agreement, or demolition.
The town hall, which was built in 1900 and is 13,716 square feet, has aging HVAC and mechanical systems, inadequate meeting spaces and a limited ability to modernize without significant capital investment, according to Jonathan Sahrbeck, the chair of the 1934 building committee.
The 1934 school building is nearly twice the size, and could more easily incorporate modern technology, have flexible public meeting space and meet future staff needs, Sahrbeck said.
The remaining space in the old school building could be converted to other uses, like community service programming, housing or performing arts, and the current town hall building could be sold or leased, he said.
The committee is also considering selling or leasing the building to a private developer, which would provide income for the town, avoid renovation costs and potentially include a myriad of uses, though members see more value in selling or leasing the current town hall, Sahrbeck said. Some see potential safety issues posed by a private development with close proximity to the schools. And by selling or leasing, the town would lose some control over the use of the building.
The town is also contemplating removing or demolishing the building to avoid costs and provide additional field space for the school. The town would retain ownership of the land, Sahrbeck said, and it would avoid the question of what to do with the building. It could be controversial, though, to remove a historic building. The committee is still waiting on cost estimates.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” he said.
Cape Elizabeth is hoping to learn from neighboring South Portland, which has spent the past couple of years contemplating the future of the old Mahoney Middle School.
When the original conceptual design for a civic hub in the brick building came in with a price tag of $193.8 million in December — $120 million more than preliminary estimates — councilors said that they couldn’t imagine residents voting for something that expensive. The city postponed the referendum vote and is looking into pursuing a partnership with a private developer.
“They’ve taught us some lessons,” Sahrbeck said. “We want to get ahead of the situation prior to when the building is detached to stand alone.”