Aaron Guild School Leased to Norwood CETA Consortium and EdCo for One Year-August 1, 1979

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The Aaron Guild School doors will open in September to two new tenants as Norwood selectmen voted unanimously last night to lease the building for one year to the Norwood CETA Consortium and the Educational Collaborative of Greater Boston (EdCo) for a total rent of $148,000. In doing so, the board rejected for the time being a proposal to move the town’s Civic Recreation Center into the ground floor of the three-story building. Arguing that the town needed time to determine a long-range use for the school—which was closed in June due to declining enrollment—Town Manager John J. Carroll and Joan H. Cuff, chairman of the Guild Study Committee, recommended the two short-term leases.

This is a temporary expediency; it will give us security and occupancy, Selectmen Chairman Joseph F. Curran told the sixty-five residents at the meeting. However, Walter J. Grady, chairman of the Civic Replacement Committee, had urged the board to reserve the ground floor for recreation facilities to replace the Civic Center. Following the meeting, he stated, This is the first step toward losing our Civic Center. If we lose the Aaron Guild, we will never have a central recreation facility. Walter J. Grady called the decision a bad business transaction, arguing that delaying action for a year will decrease the buying power of the $2 million Norwood Hospital is paying to replace the recreation facilities. The town has agreed to sell the present Civic Center, located across the street from the Guild School, to the hospital once its expansion plans are approved by the state.

Long-delayed state approval is expected around August 14, and hospital officials are considering offering financial incentives to vacate the Civic as soon as possible. Hospital Administrator David P. Buchmueller stated that one possible incentive would be to pay the town $10,000 per month for each month earlier than the twenty-one-month deadline that the Civic is vacated. While Walter J. Grady contended this incentive could offset the rent, Town Manager John J. Carroll dismissed the proposed schedule as totally unrealistic, noting it takes three or four months to hire an architect-consultant.

Under the approved terms, CETA will occupy the first and second floors starting October 1 on a full-year lease for $117,000, while EdCo will take over the ground level (except for the auditorium-gymnasium) starting September 1 on a ten-month lease for $31,000. Representatives of both tenants confirmed they could vacate when the leases expire if required. CETA, presently located on Davis Avenue, will use the larger quarters to expand vocational training programs under Executive Director Larry Fitch, while EdCo will use six classrooms to work with about thirty severely handicapped students from the Wrentham and Fernald state schools. Selectman Joseph F. Curran noted that other proposed uses, such as a police sub-station and a drop-in center for the elderly, will be considered when permanent plans are developed. Selectman Mary J. Fox was absent from the unanimous vote.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger