LAWRENCE — Cambridge School of Culinary Arts has backed out of a deal to open a campus at the old Morehouse Bakery building on the corner of Mill and Methuen streets.
Instead, the owners of the old bread factory are pursuing a light-manufacturing company as a tenant for the 45,000-square-foot building, a city official said.
The fact that the culinary school was going to offer classes in a renovated manufacturing building was hailed last year as evidence of the downtown's rebirth. Many people hoped it would breathe new life into the area, and that graduates of the school would open their own local restaurants, fueling further redevelopment.
"From an economic development perspective, it's a significant loss," said Pedro Arce, president of the fledgling Veritas Bank, who introduced the building's owners to the people who founded the college, Roberta and Bill Dowling. "I got the parties together, and everyone agreed it was a great fit for the area and a great idea."
But, he said, "their interest waned after awhile."
John Hannon, director of marketing for the school, said that's exactly what happened.
He said when Arce approached the school's founders three years ago, they were excited about being part of Lawrence's economic revitalization.
"They were interested," Hannon said. "Then it went through rounds and rounds of permitting and approvals."
He said the building's owner at the time, Charlie Daher of Commonwealth Motors, was a partner in the project with the Architectural Heritage Foundation, but then decided in December to sell the building and a small, adjacent parking lot to the Boston-based nonprofit foundation for $600,000.
Hannon said that sale dragged out the project even longer. As the delay continued, he said, the founders had a chance to reconsider their options.
"By last summer, they decided to look elsewhere," he said. "They decided to expand the site in Cambridge."
He said the school will add a fifth kitchen in Cambridge to accommodate more students and is considering opening a satellite school on Cape Cod. The school typically has about 10,000 students a year, including professional chefs receiving their degrees and night-school students looking to improve their home kitchen culinary skills.
"Even though a lot of students come from Southern New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley, (the school's owners) decided that with the delay and the size of the project, and after being here 30 years, we thought it was better to expand here," he said. The school is at 2020 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge.
In addition, the school will open a cafe, something that had been under consideration for the Lawrence site.
Daher agreed the process took too long, which is why he backed out of the partnership and sold his share of the building to the Architectural Heritage Foundation.
"It was a great idea," he said of locating the school in the downtown area. "But I decided it wasn't going anywhere."
Daher said he would go to meetings where city and school officials would just "talk and talk about the same things."
"I finally said, 'I'm out of this,'" Daher said.
He said a $50,000 deposit the school had given to him and the foundation was returned to the school.
Sean McDonnell, Architectural Heritage Foundation's president, issued a statement that the foundation is "disappointed" the school isn't moving into the Morehouse building.
The plan had always called for the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts to be the anchor tenant in the old building, occupying about 18,000 square feet on the first floor. It was even slated to open in January as the foundation sought commercial tenants for the remaining 18,000 square feet of space on the second and third floors.
Redevelopment of Morehouse Bakery was to represent a total investment of about $8.8 million, according to plans submitted to the city last year. The project was to make use of $1 million in market tax credits. Architectural Heritage Foundation project manager Kara Cicchetti said the tax credits go with the building, regardless of the tenant.
McDonnell went on to say he hopes a new tenant will be signed soon.
"We remain excited by the opportunities the Morehouse Bakery building presents," he said, "particularly in light of the recent improvements to Essex Street, the groundbreaking DHS Immigration Services facility being constructed at the corner of Canal and Mill streets, and the success at the Washington Mills Building No. 1,which is continuing a strong lease-up.
"With the Morehouse Bakery having a great location, adjacent parking and good bones, AHF hopes to have the building back in service soon and sees the building as a significant contributor to the ongoing and exciting revitalization of Lawrence."
Tom Schiavone, acting economic development director for the city, said that within two weeks, it is likely a new tenant will be announced to take over the entire building.
"There is a fantastic company looking at that property," he said. "They have every intention of moving into that property."
He described it as a light-manufacturing company from a neighboring community. A previous tenant of the building was Adtec Electroplating, a manufacturing company.
"The prospects are very good," he said. "They would take the entire building."
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Morehouse Bakery
Size: Three stories, about 40,000 square feet
Location: Corner of Mill and Methuen streets.
Sold by: Charles Daher of Commonwealth Motors to Architectural Heritage Foundation for $600,000 in December. Purchase includes parking lot across Mill Street.
Brief history: Main part of building erected in 1907 for Morehouse Bakery. Enlarged in 1914, 1924, 1929 and 1931. Company made bread by the ton, but also made cakes and doughnuts under the Sunlight and Betsy Ross brands. By 1927, it had a fleet of 34 trucks. Until recently, the building was used by Adtec Electroplating.
