HARPSWELL SELECTWOMAN Alison Hawkes looks out of a former kindergarten class window at the closed West Harpswell School during a tour of the school on Friday. Harpswell officials, residents and Priority Group President Jim Howard toured the building to assess possible long-term uses for the school that closed earlier this year.
Harpswell officials continue to explore potential uses for the 17,000 square feet that became available after the town acquired West Harpswell School from School Administrative District 75, which closed the school in June.
During a special meeting Friday with Jim Howard, president and CEO of Priority Group LLC, selectmen and residents discussed the possibility of converting the school into a mixed-use conference center and office space.
Howard’s Topsham- based development group owns business parks and buildings throughout the region and the state. On Friday, he provided Harpswell officials with an assessment of potential uses for the school building and explained how at the Border Trust Business Center his company built in Topsham could offer examples for the Harpswell property.
The Topsham center, Howard said, has 13 fully furnished office suites that share conference space, equipment such as photocopiers and fax machines, and a kitchen.
The Harpswell Board of Selectmen remains in the preliminary phase of crafting a West Harpswell School reuse recommendation to present to the town’s voters at the annual meeting in March 2012. Fundamental questions about who would own and manage the building still need answers.
Selectwoman Elinor Multer said “with some assurance” Friday that the Board of Selectmen “(does) not envision the town becoming a landlord directly.” Selectmen would rather find an outside developer to renovate the building and a property manager to oversee the building’s operation.
Beyond that question, the idea of a commercial center — that Howard said could include small offices, conference space, possibly a day care program or medical offices — received a warm reception from the board.
Selectwoman Alison Hawkes said the concept answered two questions: how to improve the town’s business climate and how to attract more residents to the area.
“We just closed the school because we didn’t have enough kids out there,” Hawkes said. “Having small offices for businesses and families starting out would just open a chance for us to grow on this side.”
For the short term, Hawkes said her hope is to see the building in use.
“I just don’t want to see it empty,” Hawkes said. “ The more I walk through, the more I see how it is a usable space and a great building.”
The town is accepting applications for temporary use of the building, but Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said Friday that she has yet to receive a submission.
Tom Allen, a resident who attended Friday’s meeting, said his wife, quilter Susan Carlson, would be one local business owner who could benefit from transforming the school to a business center with conference space.
Allen said his wife regularly travels to host quilting classes at conferences across the country.
“To be able to have that in Harpswell would be an incredible benefit,” Allen said.
After Friday’s meeting, the primary question that stood for the Board of Selectmen to consider was how much interest local business owners would have in occupying office space on a more permanent basis.
Multer said she would like to see rent projections based on how much revenue the town would need to break even. She also suggested that town officials seek opinions of local businesses about whether they would consider moving into such a space.
“ I’m assuming that it is very difficult to get a sense of who is willing to come unless you get a sense of what the cost would be,” Multer said.
Howard said that business owners who currently work from home could serve as a key tenant, as he said is the case in Topsham.
Multer said the board would consider taking a tour of Howard’s Topsham building in the future.
Selectman Jim Henderson said the idea of transforming existing school facilities into a day care program could create an additional appeal for business owners with young children who currently work from home.
Overall, Hawkes said she was “ impressed” with Howard’s presentation Friday and the example of the Topsham project.
“That’s sort of where I’m leaning now,” Hawkes said.
The primary concern, Hawkes said, is that the town is “making some money.”
Howard said town officials must complete a bit of homework to make sure that a business use would be wellreceived and enable the town to make up annual operating costs estimated at around $110,000.
Expressing a willingness to undertake that homework assignment, Multer suggested that conversations with Howard about a business center would likely continue.
“ I suspect that you’ll be hearing from us in the future,” Multer told Howard at the close of Friday’s meeting.
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