Future Options for First School Cut Weighed

After months of preliminaries, the Davis Thayer Reuse Committee finally heard from some of the entities that have made an expression of interest -- a non-binding, conceptual stage of discussion. The written submission were due at the end of May and  are now posted on the committee website.

Submittals came from:

Dean College - REI Davis Thayer Letter of Interest & Proposal Narrative and Project Description

Camford Property Group

Matthew Zajac, Davis Thayer Music Mecca Proposal

PENNROSE

TMC HFA Davis Thayer Submission

Chair, Debbie Pellegri, decided to have each of the organization present, take a few minutes to describe their thoughts or their proposal. Sandra Cain, executive VP, presented for Dean College and was joined via Zoom by  interim president and board chair Mark D. Boyce.

Cain noted that both Dean and the town had an interest in making such an important  location contribute to the look and feel of the town. She said Dean envisioned creating a multi-use arts center on the property, likely keeping the original building. 

Committee member Ted Cormier-Leger questioned whether Dean had the financial capacity to bring the building up to code and make it ADA compliant. But for her part Cain stressed the school's commitment and their vision of the property has something that might best be a joint project with the town.

A representative of HFA, a local architectural firm partnering with TMC, then spoke about that group's  mixed use adaptive concepts, one of which included a high-end restaurant at the front of the building. 

Brad Chaffee of Camford, another local development organization, also talked about his ideas, including potential housing or senior housing options. The Committee members and audience asked many questions of the developers and raisied more issues for future research.

A more formal meeting with each  of the organizations that expressed interest is slated for June 25.