Clarke Schools to sell most of campus in Northampton for luxury apartments
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NORTHAMPTON - The Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech is selling the bulk of its Round Hill campus to a Springfield development group that intends to convert the property into an 80-unit luxury apartment complex.
Clarke trustees announced Tuesday that the school will sell 11.2 acres on both sides of picturesque Round Hill Road to OPAL Real Estate Group. The property includes 11 buildings, all of which will be converted into one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments over the next year. No new construction will take place.
Clarke will keep about a half-acre of land that includes Bell Hall on Round Hill Road. The school intends to consolidate a majority of its programs and administrative offices into that space.
The two sides declined to discuss the purchase price until the deal is finalized early next year. The Clarke campus is valued at about $16.3 million, according to figures provided earlier this year by LandVest, the Boston real estate company that helped Clarke market the property.
Officials stressed that maintaining the character of the campus and how it fits in with the surrounding neighborhood is paramount as the project moves forward.
"We want to see the flavor of the neighborhood retained," said Clarke President Bill Corwin.
That's why trustees decided earlier this year to call for a request for proposals from developers so that the school could be more actively involved in choosing a developer that shared its vision of the property.
That vision was three-fold: honor the natural beauty of the grounds, maintain the exterior appearance of the buildings and reflect the character of the neighborhood.
"Our options were to put it on the market or have a more involved process through an RFP," Corwin said. "It meant more to us than just a purchase price."
Trustee Julie Cowan said OPAL's proposal best matched that vision.
"My feeling is that we've accomplished that," she said. "It's an exciting day for everyone."
OPAL intends to keep the property and buildings the way they are, said owner and cofounder Peter Picknelly.
"This property is beautiful," said Picknelly, who also is the president of Peter Pan Bus Lines. "It has great integrity, great bones. It's our intention to keep that structure."
Most of the buildings OPAL is purchasing are already used as living space, though the company expects to complete needed upgrades and bring them into compliance with existing codes, said Demetrios Panteleakis, managing partner and co-founder of OPAL.
"These buildings are in good shape ... the Clarke School has done an impeccable job of maintaining the property," he said.
The complex will include apartments ranging in size from 700 square feet for the single rooms to 1,800 square feet for the largest apartments.
Plans call for maintaining the gymnasium and swimming pool in the Galbraith Physical Education Center. Panteleakis said the space will be converted into a full workout facility for use by apartment renters, Clarke employees and the neighborhood. It also will house loft apartments, he said.
OPAL also plans to keep an existing dining commons and private meeting room facility, space that it will rent out for functions.
OPAL expects to spend $6 million to $8 million on the project, which should take about a half-year to complete. The units should be ready to rent next fall.
Panteleakis said the work will involve interior renovation and that the exterior appearance of the buildings and grounds will remain unchanged.
"When you walk down here a year from now it will look the same," he said.
The apartment units will be rented at above-market rates, though the company has yet to determine what those rates will be, Panteleakis said.
Clarke officials have had neighborhood meetings leading up to Tuesday's announcement, and OPAL officials said they intend to go over their plans with neighbors as soon as possible.
Neighborhood reaction
Ward 2 City Councilor Paul D. Spector, who represents the Round Hill neighborhood, was cautiously optimistic when told about the plans on Tuesday. He said it sounds like many neighborhood concerns are being considered, including preserving the character of the area and the open space of the campus.
Other concerns of neighbors revolve around project density, traffic, buffer zones and the architectural integrity of the Round Hill area, said Robert A. Jonas, who bought a former Clarke Schools residence at 83 Bancroft Road in 2004.
"The devil is going to be in the details, though," he said. "But it basically sounds good."
Jonas said that he was surprised to hear that the project does not include new construction. He was part of a separate group that submitted a unsuccessful development proposal to Clarke, but that group determined that it would not be financially feasible to do a project on the campus without new construction.
"That would be good news for a lot of neighbors if they can stay within the footprint of existing buildings," said Jonas, who is part of a neighborhood group that has been following the issue for months. "If that continues, that will be fantastic."
Many neighbors, however, will likely remain skeptical that the project can be completed without new construction, he said.
"There's somewhat of a wait-and-see going on here," Jonas said.
Meanwhile, the Elm Street Historic District has been discussing whether to extend its boundaries to include Round Hill. Such a development, which has been in the works since before Clarke announced it would sell most of its campus, would give neighbors an additional layer of review, Jonas said.
Spector said the plan also fits with the city's vision of encouraging development close to downtown. The campus is located within walking distance of downtown and is zoned for educational, agricultural and residential use. Carolyn Misch, the city's senior land use planner, said the zoning district is one in which the city would encourage multi-family units such as those outlined Tuesday.
She said plans have yet to be filed with the city, and the project would likely require site plan approval by the Planning Board.
Spector said the project would also be a significant boost to the city's property tax rolls. Clarke is a nonprofit educational institution and does not pay property taxes.
Meanwhile, the sale enables Clarke Schools to move ahead with a long-planned consolidation.
The school has been serving the needs of children with hearing loss since 1867 and was built primarily to serve residential students, but several factors have reduced the school's need to have such a large campus.
Early intervention services, advanced hearing technologies and cochlear implants have given raise to a new era in which more students are moving into mainstream classrooms at much earlier ages.
Additionally, Clarke has been serving more children and families in homes, schools and communities rather than on campus.
"We are able to serve (children) at an earlier point than ever before," said Corwin, noting that a majority of children helped are 6 and under and are able to mainstream into neighborhood public schools rather than living on campus.
Trustees announced plans about a year ago to shed much of the campus as they direct more resources toward programs and services. Corwin reiterated that point at Tuesday's announcement, adding that money currently being used to maintain buildings will now go into new and expanded programs designed to serve more children who are deaf and hard of hearing, their families and the public schools who work with them.
Distance learning technology will play a key role in the expansion. Clarke's Early Intervention Program, for example, will soon be able to support families in remote and rural areas from the time they learn that their child has a hearing loss until preschool.
Clarke will continue to help train more teachers of the deaf through a graduate program in partnership with Smith College.
The school will also grow its Mainstream Services Program, the fastest growing segment of Clarke's work. This program sends Clarke teachers into mainstream classroom and partners with school districts to create entire classrooms and programs expressly for children with hearing loss.
Chad Cain can be reached at ccain@gazettenet.com.
