Fall River wants to sell decrepit Silvia School again. Their vision for it is wide open.

FALL RIVER — The city got approval from the City Council last January to take back the blighted former Silvia Elementary School on Hartwell Street from local businessman David Hebert, and now the city is looking for a new owner to redevelop the property.

“I would like to see that piece redeveloped,” said Coogan. “Now if that means saving some of the building, that's fine. If it means taking it all down, that’s fine. Leveling the lot and making it a green space, that’s fine.”

Coogan said he wants to “throw a wide net” for proposals.

“We just know that right now it's an eyesore and it needs work,” said Coogan. “It’s one of the main entrances right off the highway into the city and into Government Center. So, it sure would be nice to rehabilitate that whole corner. We’ll look for the best proposal to make that corner look more attractive and functional.”

The administration along with the city real estate attorney, Matthew Thomas, have been working on a draft of a request for proposals. Coogan said it could be published by late next week.

Coogan said at this point he’s not locked into any one idea.

Multiple administrations have been challenged for years to sell property and see the redevelopment of those buildings to fruition, as far back as 2011 when the city endeavored to sell off 15 school buildings with required City Council approval.

City Councilor Cliff Ponte, a real estate broker, has suggested recently that the city find another process to sell property.

Saving Fall River history: From churches to mills, these 13 places are at risk of losing historic value

History of trying to develop Silvia School

The city and the City Council have tried selling and redeveloping the former Frank M. Silvia School, 138 Hartwell St., since 2013.

The now-dilapidated structure, with broken or nonexistent windows and a yellow sign with an “X” warning firefighters against trying to save it in case of fire, sits at the entrance of Interstate 195 directly into the downtown area.

A brownfield site, the School Department vacated it in 2003.

The City Council approved selling the former Silvia and Lincoln schools to Hebert for $5,000 and $10,000 respectively around 2017, when former Mayor Jasiel Correia II was in his first term.

When Hebert was vying to win approval from the council's real estate subcommittee, LAL Construction of Fall River offered a $20,000 bid.

A few years later, Hebert, Correia and others would be indicted and convicted of taking bribes from businessmen looking to set up marijuana shops in Fall River, in the early days of legal cannabis.

Hebert never did anything with the property, even though he had an agreement with the city that in five years he would redevelop it, proposing a boutique hotel and restaurant. He tried to sell it for $900,000 at one point.

Hebert signed over the Silvia School to the city in a quitclaim deed in December for $1. 

Old schools, no progress: After 9 years of no development, city to take back former Davol Elementary School

Other problem properties Fall River has struggled to redevelop

Even with Coogan's administration laying out a wish list for the Hartwell Street property's redevelopment, recent history shows that economic factors in redeveloping challenging properties may not coincide with the community’s visions.

Take the Bank Street Armory, for example, or the former Bedford Street police station.

Alan Macomber was the lone bidder for the Bank Street Armory, proposing to turn that property into market-rate housing. The City Council nixed those plans, with most councilors expressing a desire to keep it as a community venue.

And yet again the city will take back the old police station, which has been behind a security fence for the public’s safety for years.

The property’s most recent owner and the city agreed with the take-back after the developer missed deadlines for redevelopment, exacerbated in part because the city’s building inspector deemed the former police station a danger of collapse.

The old police station has its own storied past, with redevelopment plans that have started and stopped numerous times. The latest plan was also to turn the contaminated building into market-rate housing.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River to sell dilapidated Silvia School; redevelopment plans open