$17M could turn school into senior housing.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Brian Lee

WEBSTER - Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray walked the cold, flood-damaged halls and rooms of the A.J. Sitkowski School yesterday.

With local legislators and selectmen, Mr. Murray posed for photographs in the building's old library, which has a mantled fireplace and a charm officials hope to preserve as they seek to transform the sometimes vandalized vacant building into housing for senior citizens.

Later, as Mr. Murray stood in the gymnasium, which will become the building's two-story senior center, he said he was impressed with officials' vision for the building and downtown.

The Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, a nonprofit community development corporation in Boston, seeks to invest $17 million in the building, which Town Administrator John F. McAuliffe said was "teetering on the brink of either repair or demolition." The town hoped to garner additional support from the state as soon as possible, he said.

...