SANDWICH- ‘What will it become?’ That is the question being asked by Sandwich residents as the town places the former Henry T. Wing School up for sale.
Numerous options aimed at keeping the structure in the town’s hands were considered before a decision made by voters back in May to sell off the property was implemented.
“The first phase, before we put out an ‘RFP,’ is we are going to put an ad in some of the trade journals such as the ‘New England Real Estate Journal’ to see if we can generate some interest, pretty much stating we have this property for sale,” says Ralph Vitacco, Sandwich’s Town Planner.
I know that Barnstable did something similar with their ‘Festival Plaza,’ we are kind of following that game plan,” adds Vitacco.
Some of the original ideas to keep the space for Sandwich included putting $4 million dollars into transforming the area into a town green, and even spending $33 million dollars to renovate parts of the 1927 structure, and tearing down the remainder, both of which did not pass.
“Last November, the town did a municipal overlay district. The school was originally permitted just for residential and municipal use. So we expanded the uses to include things such as office space… assisted living, and things like that,” says Vitacco.
Since that change, the Wing has played home to school administrative offices with a portion being rented to ‘The Cape Cod Collaborative Educational Group’ for children.
In the meantime, development organizations such as the ‘Stratford Group’ (known for turning Bourne’s Kempton J. Coady School into a senior living facility) have toured the property, and have shown interest.
According to reports, Town Historians would mandate whoever purchased the property must maintain the original 1927 façade, and retain ownership of the playing fields, and open space parcels as parking areas if purchased.
At this time however, there is no definitive decision as to who will acquire the land.
By JOHN BONDAREK, CapeCod.Com News Center
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