Framingham pushing for $34-million downtown MassBay campus
Framinghan officials and local legislators are pushing for a new downtown satellite campus for Massachusetts Bay Community College.
Robert Halpin, Framingham town administrator
Framingham officials were originally pushing for MassBay to move into the town-owned building that currently houses town hall (above), but now local officials hope the state picks any site in the downtown area for the community college campus.
Local stakeholders are in the process of re-pitching a $34-million downtown Framingham satellite campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College to the Baker Administration after a host of community college capital projects across the state have been put on hold.
The bidding process is winding down for a new campus with 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of academic space. Wellesley-based MassBay needs a new home for its satellite campus since the space it now occupies next to Fuller Middle School on Flagg Drive will be used to accommodate the town's growing middle and high school student population starting in 2018, said Framingham Town Administrator Robert Halpin.
There's been speculation that the state Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAMM), which is responsible for acquiring property for MassBay and other state schools, is interested in a former fabric store site about a block away from Framingham's town hall, which is close to the commuter rail station as well as a parking garage on Pearl Street to accommodate students who drive. DCAMM officials haven't disclosed potential locations publicly, and the satellite campus technically could go anywhere that meets the bid requirements, including other communities.
A year ago, Halpin was hopeful that MassBay and DCAMM would be enticed to buy town-owned buildings that currently house town hall on Union Avenue. At the center of the downtown rotary, the property is a focal point and easily accessible by bus and the commuter rail, which is within short walking distance of town hall.
While downtown Framingham may still be a future destination for MassBay, Halpin believes town hall won't be its new home. He suspects DCAMM – which is running a formal request-for-propsal process, is hesitant about the cost of renovating and outfitting the property as a college campus.
“We've drawn that conclusion just because they're spending all their attention elsewhere,” Halpin said.
Getting Baker on board
Meanwhile, a new satellite campus for MassBay needs to pass muster before Gov. Charlie Baker.
Halpin said the real effort now is to convince Baker and the Department of Higher Education of the need for the campus in order to address access challenges in the southern branch of Middlesex County that is served by MassBay.
The MassBay satellite project, along with 16 other community college capital projects across the state, are being reviewed after the projects received initial authorization under former Gov. Deval Patrick. In MassBay's case, the project received funding authorization back in 2008, according to DCAMM.
“There's a whole case to be made about how underserved portions of MetroWest are,” Halpin said.
Downtown pros and cons
Town leaders are pushing downtown revitalization, and a MassBay campus would help achieve that goal.
While downtown Natick is thriving, just a few miles to the east on Route 135, downtown Framingham has struggled to compete with its own Route 9 corridor for coveted retail establishments.
Dining is a possible exception, as the Brazilian community had populated a portion of downtown real estate, particularly south of Route 135, with bustling restaurants, but downtown housing options are limited.
Commuter rail service is directly accessible via a downtown Framingham station, which may be the area's biggest advantage.
A college campus, with all the foot traffic it would bring, would no doubt help revitalization efforts, Halpin said.
Meeting the middle-skills need
But Halpin said his chief concern when it comes to bringing MassBay downtown is the many residents of south Framingham, in particular, who would benefit from improved access to MassBay programs.
“We're trying to disabuse people of the notion that this is about downtown Framingham,” Halpin said.
Employers may benefit too, because community colleges in Massachusetts are designed to foster a prepared workforce to address what's been identified as a middle-skills gap for jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor's degree.
The goal is to educate students to fill jobs at MetroWest companies, and biotech, advanced manufacturing, financial services, human services, health care, information technology and cyber security are key priority areas, said Interim MassBay President Yves Salomon-Fernandez, in an email interview.
MassBay is the only community college located between Boston and Worcester, Salomon-Fernandez said.
Students who live in the Framingham area tend to be less affluent than those living closer to Wellesley, so MassBay's vision is really to create a campus that offers programming comparable to what's offered in Wellesley.
“Currently, our Framingham campus is not a comprehensive campus that offers the range of academic programs available in Wellesley,” Salomon-Fernandez said. “We want students coming from the lower economic strata to have the same educational opportunities as those coming from the affluent towns near Wellesley.”
Outside of Wellesley and Framingham, MassBay operates an Automotive Technology Center in Ashland.
Next steps
The competitive bidding process for the new campus, which began a year ago, is nearing its conclusion, said David Abdoo , chief of staff at DCAMM.
The bid request issued on MassBay's behalf for a satellite campus doesn't name Framingham, or any other town, as a desired location. The specifications and the $34-million budget simply must be met.
It is likely MassBay will have to find a temporary home while a permanent home is created.
Construction would take too long at this point for MassBay to move into a new, permanent campus before the town of Framingham requires the college to leave its current location in 2018. That's according to Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland).
Spilka is working with other lawmakers to convince Baker to move the project along.
She argued Framingham is the center of the population served by the existing satellite campus, and the commuter rail makes it accessible to the greatest number of students.
The town is also home to major companies, like TJX Cos. and Genzyme, which host MassBay interns, said Spilka.
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