Town seeks input on what to do with shuttered South Natick school

Be heard about the future of the 5 Auburn Street parcel in South Natick at two upcoming meetings.

The 5 Auburn Street Request for Proposal (RFP) Committee—the nine-member group tasked with figuring out what to do with the former Eliot School building and its 2.8 acre parcel in South Natick—is seeking input from Natick residents regarding the future of the 3-floor, 10,600 square-foot structure that dates from 1938. The Committee wants feedback from the community in order to develop an RFP for the potential sale of the building/parcel.

5 Auburn Street most recently served as a Montessori school, but that operation completed a major renovation in 2020 to its campus across the street, giving it the space it needed to keep to one side of Route 16 only. The private school, which still educates toddlers – grade 8 using the Montessori model, is now known as Riverbend.

Going further back, 5 Auburn Street was a public school building into the 1970s.

The historic structure needs lots of work. The boiler has failed, it has inefficient single-pane windows, and it isn’t ADA-compliant. Upgrading it could cost upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Public meetings:

DATE: April 27, 2022
TIME: 6:30pm
LOCATION: via Zoom. Meeting ID 873 0126 2933

DATE: April 30, 2022
TIME: 3pm
LOCATION: 5 Auburn Street

And/or express your thoughts on the matter via email at 5auburn@natickma.org