A renovation, which will convert the former Shaw Junior High School on South Street in Gorham into municipal office space, got underway this past fall.
A small voter turnout approved the $7 million makeover in a referendum last March during a snowstorm. The project will put the town’s administrative offices and school department under one roof. The School Department has been paying $75,000 a year for rented office space in recent years at the corner of Main Street and Libby Avenue.
Mike Phinney, chairman of the Gorham Town Council, said Tuesday that roof work on the former Shaw School, which was built in 1938 as a high school, began before Christmas. He also said that the parking lot has been redone and received a coat of paving before cold weather.
Phinney said a crew is cleaning out the inside and preparing it for interior work. He said the town would likely move in before next winter.
If money is left over after renovating the Shaw School, voters also authorized upgrading the present Municipal Center on Main Street for use by fire, police and rescue. The town has outgrown the Municipal Center and the fire chief’s office and Planning Department are now housed in portable buildings.
As part of the Shaw School referendum, voters also gave a green light to improvements at the former Little Falls School if money remained after a rehab at the Municipal Center. The 50-year old former kindergarten is now used by Gorham Recreation Department but the town hasn’t decided on a future use of that school.
Last year’s referendum to renovate the Shaw School likely saved the building, which is in a federal historic district, from a wrecking ball. In 2003, voters approved a measure that would have renovated part of the Shaw School and demolished the rest. But the town halted that project when the $2.4 million voters approved wasn’t enough to complete the project.
The Shaw School has been vacant since the fall of October of 2003 when the new Middle School opened.
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