Former Pleasant Valley Elementary School soon to be marketed
Groton — The town is expected to soon begin marketing the former Pleasant Valley Elementary School, after the Board of Education voted last week to turn the property over to the town.
Under an agreement, the town will allow the Robert E. Fitch High School robotics team, which has been meeting in the former school's gymnasium, to continue to use the space for a year, said Superintendent Michael Graner. The school district also will be allowed to continue to use for a year the A-frame, a 10,000-square-foot facility for storage of maintenance supplies, school supplies and technology.
Town Manager John Burt said marketing usually lasts about 6 months, followed by the request for proposals process, so the town didn’t have an immediate need for the space.
"Having them stay through the next school year doesn’t present any issues," said Burt, who anticipates the town soon will begin marketing the property for sale.
"We’ve had a few developers already express interest in the property," Director of Planning and Development Services Jon Reiner said Thursday, adding that once the town has the keys to the building, it will start showing and marketing the property.
While it's still too early to say what the property will become, Reiner said developers have shown a lot of interest in the site for market-rate, multifamily housing.
Graner said the final clean-out of the former school building was completed in the past two months, though work had been done over the last two years, including moving equipment and furniture to other schools in the district, holding an auction for people to bid on equipment, and discarding items. Graner said over the last year, the school district contained the areas where there was mold and, over the last two months, had a company come in to remediate the mold.
The Pleasant Valley Elementary School originally was slated for closure under the Groton 2020 plan, but closed at the end of the 2016-17 school year due to budget cuts.
"My heart goes out to the community," Graner said. "That school served the military community so well for decades. It’s a really special school."
But he said the "spirit of Pleasant Valley lives on." Teachers from the former school have been "wonderful additions" to other schools in the district, and the children from the former school have enriched the district, as well.
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