WHATELY — A new life as apartments may be in the former East Whately School House’s future, with a Montague-based developer now seeking a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Robert Obear, owner of Obear Construction, appeared before the ZBA last week to share his plans to renovate the building at 219 Christian Lane into “upscale” one-bedroom apartments, while maintaining the historical character of the building and its grounds. Multi-family dwellings in the Agricultural Residential 1 zone require a special permit, per the town’s zoning bylaws.

Obear said he purchased the building, also known as the Blue School, in 2018 and had been working with the National Park Service to get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With it now listed, along with the historical preservation tax credits the designation supplies, Obear said he is ready to present his plans to the town.

“It’s been several years in the making and we finally got the school approved for tax credits, got financing for the project and this was sort of the last step,” he said. “It will be restored and returned to good condition. We’ll have nine very nice schoolhouse apartments available and I believe we have garnered the support of the town.”

In a letter to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, the Whately Historical Commission stated it voted unanimously to designate the school as “historically significant.” The commission hopes this vote is “helpful to the productive and successful redevelopment of the school.”

Obear said his intention is to maintain as much of the internal classroom structure as possible and the original footprint of the building will remain. The exterior will be cleaned and repainted (in its current blue color), and landscaping will be done to create a “residential atmosphere,” according to the special permit narrative.

“We don’t have any plans to change the way the building looks, other than to make it look refreshed,” Obear said. “It’s always going to be the Blue School for me.”

The 8,700-square-foot building was built in 1915 to replace the former East School on the same lot, which burned down the same year. Two classrooms were added in 1922, but no additional construction has occurred since that date, according to an inventory sheet from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Whately operated the school from 1915 until September 1991 before turning it into the Frontier Regional School District’s administrative offices in January 1992. In 2018, the district issued a request for proposals for the building. and Obear Construction purchased it in August 2018.

Obear presented conceptual drawings to the ZBA and said construction drawings will be prepared in the future to apply for a building permit.

The ZBA opted to continue its hearing on a special permit to Thursday, April 20, at 6:40 p.m. to allow time for members to conduct a site visit. Should the ZBA issue the special permit, the project will next be considered by the Planning Board.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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