A double dose of good news this week means the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Belchertown State School property is finally gaining momentum.
The Belchertown Day School announced Monday that a $1 million grant from the state will allow it to construct a new building to house all its child-care programs at the former state school campus along Route 202. On Friday, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held for the first project at the site, an 83-unit assisted living center on three acres that is expected to open next spring.
The school and senior housing are the cornerstones of what Belchertown officials hope becomes a mix of residential, commercial, recreational and cultural development on the 846-acre property. That is part of the town’s strategy to create new jobs along a vibrant Route 202 corridor that already includes the public schools complex, Eastern Hampshire District Court and the Town Common with Town Hall.
Town officials have compared the potential redevelopment of the state school property to Village Commons in South Hadley, which has a mix of apartments, stores, restaurants and a movie theater.
The state school closed in 1992 after 70 years of warehousing up to 1,300 people behind barred windows in locked wards. Many had severe disabilities, while other were misdiagnosed, orphaned or simply unwanted. During the past 25 years, proposals by several potential developers died on the vine, and the decaying buildings suffered vandalism, including suspicious fires, i recent years.
Reuse of the campus got its first significant boost in 2015 when the state authorized $1.7 million for the cleanup of hazardous materials, including asbestos, and demolition of some of the old buildings and utility tunnels. The state worked with the Belchertown Economic Development and Industrial Corp. and other town officials on a mixed-use master plan.
The Grantham Group LLC, a Boston-based developer, will operate Christopher Heights Belchertown, with 43 of its assisted-living units for low-income seniors. The facility will have around-the-clock staffing for personal-care assistance and a daily schedule of social activities. Grantham operates five other Christopher Heights assisted-living communities in Massachusetts, including its latest on the grounds of the former Northampton State Hospital in a neighborhood now called Village Hill.
The Belchertown Day School will bring children to the former state school campus, and for the first time since the 1980s, its programs will be at one site. The school now cares for toddlers and preschoolers at 432 State St., with its after-school programs for children in kindergarten through Grade 6 at local schools.
About 25 percent of the children it serves are from low-income families, which qualifies the school for the grant from the state Department of Early Education and Care. The new building will cost $2.4 million, and the school will use loans and perhaps other grants to pay the balance.
“We’re the only nonprofit child care in town. “We don’t turn anyone away because of their ability to pay,” says Heidi Gutekenst, its school-age director. “Being able to build one place — that’s going to help us serve more families and our town.”
Because the town did not renew its lease at 51 State St., the school was forced to move in March to smaller quarters without enough classroom, office or storage space, according to Gutekenst. Among the improvements at the new school will be two classrooms for toddlers instead of one,which will allow more children to be served. There are now 35 toddlers on a waiting list for the program.
And this will be the first time that the Belchertown Day School will own its building. “It a convenient location in the center of town,” Gutekenst says. “It has beautiful land and a lot of potential.”
Among the possibilities is partnering with the senior assisted-living center for some activities. “We’re completely looking forward to doing multigenerational things,” Gutekenst says.
That’s exciting news as the revitalization of this prime real estate in the center of Belchertown finally begins after a quarter century of moribundity.