WHATELY — With the former Whately Center School’s request for proposals (RFP) left unanswered, the Selectboard plans to discuss the future of the 113-year-old building at its next meeting.

The town issued the RFP for the Center School, located on Chestnut Plain Road, in October with a lease condition that the renter would redevelop the 1½-story, 6,183-square-foot building at a reduced rent. Those conditions, Town Administrator Brian Domina said at Tuesday’s Selectboard meeting, may have discouraged businesses and organizations from applying.

“Responses were due yesterday. … We didn’t get any,” Domina said. “There was no interest in the building under those terms. … I think what’s not attractive to it is the lease aspect of it.”

While discussion was limited Tuesday because the Center School was not listed as a business item on the meeting agenda — Domina brought it up briefly during his town administrator’s update — the Selectboard will deliberate over the future of the former school at its Feb. 16 meeting.

Over the last few years, the town has sought out creative reuse ideas for the building, such as a restaurant, makerspace or housing. Other options, as identified by the Center School Visioning Committee’s 2020 report, include selling the building or demolishing it, although those options are not preferred by the Selectboard, Visioning Committee or Historical Commission.

In conversations with staff from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Domina said most developers are interested in “outright ownership” of properties.

“The expectation of a developer is they can use the money to make a profit, more than what they’re putting up to fix the building. I’m just not sure the building and location is suitable for that,” Domina said. “There may be people who are interested in an outright sale, but I don’t know, we have never put that out.”

While demolition may not be the best option for historical preservation, Selectboard Chair Joyce Palmer-Fortune said it may be an option that can save the town money in the future, since Whately is paying about $4,000 a year to insure the building. The town has turned off the building’s heat and water and it is winterized.

“I’m not advocating that’s the next place we go … but at some point it’s going to be clear that the things we’d love to be there aren’t going to happen,” Palmer-Fortune said. “Wouldn’t that make a really nice park? To me, that’s what that land is great for, that’s why it was a great location for a school.”

The Visioning Committee’s 2020 report estimated demolition costs would be approximately $60,000 between the destruction and filling in the cellar hole. Abatement of any hazardous materials would cost an additional $40,000.

Fellow Selectboard member Julianna Waggoner said contacting state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield, may be another move to help the town sort out its options.

“This problem is happening all over the state,” Waggoner said. “Let’s see if she’s willing to come out here and talk about it for a little bit.”

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