The college is looking at other options for housing in the Washington Street building.
WESTFIELD – Boston Realty Associates has dropped plans to convert the former Westfield Normal School into downtown housing for Westfield State College students.
“We were unable to secure the necessary funding for the project,” Juan M. Cofield, president, said Tuesday.
“I am really disappointed since I thought this was a terrific project,” Cofield said of his plan to create an Academic Village at the Washington Street site. The plan was to create housing for 90 students at an estimated cost of $8 million. Boston Realty would have leased the finished project to the college.
Cofield had planned to purchase the building from the college for about $600,000.
The project was announced last fall as one phase of Westfield State College’s plan to bring students to living space in the downtown area. The college has already secured housing under a $1 million annual lease for Lansdowne Place at 38 Thomas St.
Kenneth M. Lemanski, WSC vice president for advancement and college relations, said the college is now working with the Massachusetts State College Building Authority to determine if conversion of the Washington building can be realized.
“If not,” Lemanski said the college will post “another request for proposals for the building in September.”
Lemanski said a determination will be made by late August or early September by MSCBA concerning any plan by that agency to convert the building.
MSCBA is responsible for all dormitories on all state college properties, Lemanski explained.
WSC plans to place as many as 88 students at Lansdowne Place prior to the September start of classes for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Eventually the college wants to house 1,000 of its students in the downtown area. The plan is part of a college-city partnership aimed at revitalizing Westfield’s downtown area.
The college already operates a downtown art gallery at 105 Elm St. in the Rinnova building and hopes to create a downtown performing arts center in the future.
The college-city partnership is considered the starting point for an estimated $100 million in private and public investments along Elm Street over the next five years.