ROCKPORT, Maine — A farm turned baseball field turned school is ready for its newest transformation.
After 55 years of serving students, Rockport Elementary School was closed in 2009. Now, with the property sitting barren on the side of Route 1, the town would like to revitalize the building. That could mean selling it to a business, opening it as a library, creating a recreation center or converting it for some combination of uses, according to a recently released request for proposals.
According to the request, an informal poll taken during public meetings indicates that residents most like the idea of the 7.67-acre property being transformed into a mixed-use capacity for residential housing, commercial use and municipal use. Those polled also liked the idea of relocating the town’s library to the site or creating a community center there. Residents were not excited about the prospects of affordable housing, manufacturing or after-school programs being housed at the more than 20,000-square-foot building.
The request for proposals also offers some details about the property’s history.
“The site was originally cleared and farmed in the 1830s by the Harkness family, one of the town’s earliest settlers. In the 1890s as the popularity of baseball grew in American culture, the family allowed the sport to develop on the pastureland closest to Route 1. In 1952 the family deeded the property to the town to construct an elementary school. The original school was completed in 1954.”
The town asks that architects, engineers, planners, developers and nonprofits submit redevelopment proposals by March 17. Selected plans will be brought to a public meeting on March 31.
Development proposals sought for former school
