Moseley Elementary School was closed last year.
Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik will ask the City Council to allow him to seek
new proposals for the former Moseley School on Dartmouth Street that will consider both the outright sale and creation of a lease arrangement for the surplus building and property.WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik wants to look at options other that the direct sale of the former Moseley School for its future use.
Knapik said Thursday he will ask the City Council next week to allow him to seek new proposals for the Dartmouth Street facility that will consider both the outright sale and creation of a lease arrangement for the surplus building and property.
Moseley School was closed by the School Department and declared as surplus city property by the council last year.
A single proposal for future housing use was received by Domus Inc. earlier this month but interest has also been expressed by the Community Christian School.
The Community Christian School is interested in a lease agreement with the city to use the building for its 100 students in a kindergarten through grade 12 curriculum, Headmaster Robert Cree and Board of Directors chairman Christopher M. Dolan said Thursday.
Domus’ proposal was to acquire the 95-year-old Moseley School for $290,000, the city’s assessed value of building and property, and to convert it into low to middle income housing.
Dolan and Cree said the outright purchase of the building is above the Christian school’s revenue reserves.
Community Christian School, currently located on Broad Street was created five
years ago with an enrollment of six students. Enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year
will total more than 100 students.
“Our interest is to lease and use (Moseley) the building for classrooms,” said Cree.
The city has 90-days, from July 8, to accept or reject the Domus bid and the mayor said he was to seek out a new appraisal for Moseley to determine is a rental option is feasible.
“I want to be able to consider all options concerning this building,” Knapik said.
The closing of Moseley School last year saved the School Department an estimated $500,000 annually in maintenance and utility expenses. The school, built in 1914, previously was closed from June 1991 to September 1993 when the city opened Paper Mill and Munger Hill elementary schools. Increased enrollment in 1993 required its reopening. The 188 kindergarten-to-grade five students who attended Moseley last year were transferred to Southampton Road and Paper Mill schools this year.