UPDATED: Bids on Town Properties Promising

Chairman Matt Strauss thinks the latest bids for two town-owned properties are promising.

The highest bids are $625,00 for the former middle school on Greenwood Avenue and $2.2 million for the former Temple Israel on Humphrey Street.

The town bought the Temple for $3.26 million.

Speaking for himself, Strauss said he is pleased to see the bids are considerably larger than those offered last year when a majority of the board voted to not accept the bids.

Last year selectmen voted down a bid of $400,000 for the former middle school and a bid of $1.2 million for the former temple.

This time around the largest bid for the former middle school on is 50 percent more than the amount bid last year, Strauss said. This developer proposes building market-rate condominiums on the property.

The biggest bid for the on Humphrey Street is $1 million more than the amount bid last year. This bidder proposes using the land to develop single-family homes.

"I'm hopeful we can get to the end the town has been asking for," he said.

The town Building Oversight Committee will review and rate the bids on Wednesday.

Board members are expected to vote on whether to accept a bid for each of the buildings, the chairman said.

Earlier this year the town stepped up its efforts to sell the two vacant properties – the former  on Humphrey Street and the on Greenwood Avenue – to raise money in the present and bring in more tax revenues in future years.

The town-owned properties, being vacant, are generating no tax revenues for the town and are costing it some money in maintenance and debt.

“So whatever we can get from the sale will be better than what we are getting now,” Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said earlier. 

The former Middle School at 71 Greenwood Avenue is a three-story masonry building with 51,121 square feet. The main part of the building was constructed in 1893. Other sections were added later, with the last around 1940. The building, which has been vacant since 2007, sits on 2 acres.

The temple property at 837 Humphrey Street is a two-story masonry building that has 52,105 square feet of space, including a former sanctuary. Built in the 1950s and expanded in the 1960s, it has more than 2 acres and a parking lot large enough to hold about 200 vehicles.

The Selectmen have the authority from the Town Meeting to sell the properties for a use that is compatible with the planned development. 

Wednesday's meeting starts at 7 pm in the selectmen's room at Town Hall.