Come Learn What's Been Proposed for the Old Machon School

The following press release was submitted by Town Planner Pete Kane.

The empty halls and grounds of the old Swampscott Machon Elementary School are poised to come back to life.

After about eight years of vacancy, the Town has been taking steps to find a new use for the property and the old building. Most recently, community members took part in a Town Building Reuse Forum in February 2015 to discuss what the general public would like to see.

The forum was then followed up by a Request for Interest, Ideas, & Innovation (RFI) to seek out concepts from developers, property managers, architects, and others. Respondents were challenged with developing ideas that could feasibly be brought to life at the old school property – taking into consideration (but not limited by) the lot itself, the building, zoning, and community feedback from the February forum.

The RFI process which closed in the middle of September resulted in five concepts. The Town Planner will be presenting these concepts to the Swampscott community at an open house on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Attendees will also have the opportunity to speak with the RFI respondent teams, view the concept details and ideas, and ask questions.

The open house will conclude by asking attendees to provide feedback on the use type and scale/size of project that they feel would be best for the property and the community as a whole. This information will then be used by the Board of Selectmen to develop a Request for Proposals which will ultimately be released in January 2016.

Please join us and help us revitalize the Machon School property!