WHATELY — With funding for a feasibility study in hand, progress on the former Center School’s rehabilitation will start picking up steam in 2025.

With a $14,000 grant match in hand following approval at the Nov. 12 Special Town Meeting, Town Administrator Peter Kane said the town will begin crafting a request for proposals (RFP) in January or February and prepare to get the study rolling from there.

Once complete, Center School Committee II member Judy Markland said the feasibility study will be a valuable resource for the project, as it will explore the repairs needed for the 114-year-old former school on Chestnut Plain Road and provide some conceptual drawings.

Alongside the $14,000 National Trust for Historic Preservation grant it received, the Center School Committee also applied an Underutilized Properties Program grant, which it did not receive. Further direction on repairs and conceptual drawings, she said, will make the project more attractive on future grant applications.

“I think having some sort of drawings then helps us get more realistic estimates,” Markland said, “and the two together make the project more attractive.”

The main work needed on the building is the replacement of the slate roof. The committee has found a synthetic material, which is much cheaper than real slate, that meets the Secretary of the Interior’s historic preservation standards.

Whately has gone through a lengthy process to determine the future of the former Center School, beginning in 2019 with the creation of a Center School Visioning Committee. The committee completed a report in March 2020. In 2022, the town issued a request for proposals to lease the building out to a developer, but received no responses.

In 2023, the town released an RFP to sell the building and received two responses, but ultimately voted against selling the school in March 2024, as the Center School Committee felt it could come up with a better use for the building than a private residence.

Once historic preservation work — which alongside the roof, also includes the front steps, parapet work and window restoration — is complete, it will be up to the town to determine the next steps.

Ideas that have been floated in the past include affordable or senior housing, or potentially even a small grocery store, but the feasibility study will identify those possibilities. Housing, Markland said, provides some of the better funding options, as affordable housing is the subject of several grant opportunities. Housing is also eligible for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding.

“We’ve made progress,” Markland said. “It’s a very complex project to put together.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.