WHATELY — Contractor and developer Robert Obear has been working for several years to facilitate the conversion of the Whately School House, also known as the East School, into residential housing. On Monday, May 22 he will meet with the Zoning Board of Appeals to talk about the intended project with board members and the public.

“It’s a great opportunity for the people in town,” Obear said. “Many people who were born and raised in Whately don’t want to leave town, but they need to downsize, or maybe the next generation has taken over the family farm or property…They need somewhere to go in town.”

The project will create nine upscale apartments on two floors. Each apartment will feature a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in an open floor plan, with access to common areas. Laundry facilities will be added and parking for 14 cars will be preserved. Rents are projected to be $1,600 to $1,800 monthly, the current rate for one bedroom apartments, and renters are projected to have a yearly income of $70,600 to $74,100.

Renters who attended the Whately School House, also known as the East School or the Blue School, may experience déjà vu, a sense of having been there before.

“We’re utilizing the existing façade of the building,” Obear said. “There’ll be no changes to the exterior footprint of the building [and] the internal look of the building will remain the same…It will actually have a much smaller carbon footprint than building a new building. Overall, it’s a very positive thing for the community.”

According to the impact statement submitted with the special permit application Obear Construction, which employs twelve people, will clean up and repair the exterior walls and trim and replace worn doors and windows. The surrounding area, described as “stark” in the application, will be given a residential atmosphere with trees, shrubs and other landscaping.

The project budget will be about $1 million. So far, most of the work has been geared toward securing support for the renovation of a historic building.

“With the cost of construction through the roof these days it’s difficult to renovate old buildings without some sort of incentive,” Obear said. “We’ve been working on getting the project approved for historical tax credits and on the National Register of Historic Places for about three years. It was a lengthy process to get it eligible for the Mass. historic tax credits and the federal historic preservation tax credit, which helps offset the cost of renovating old buildings such as this.”

Permitting and an initial assessment of demolition needs will take the first 90 days of the project, with the next 160 days devoted to removal of deteriorated structural elements and cleaning out the basement. Almost two months will be devoted to repairs to the exterior and replacement of windows and doors.

Obear grew animated when discussing the interior of the units.

“We’ve got 12-foot ceilings,” Obear said. “We’ve got huge windows in all the units, tons of natural light, the original hardwood floors, lots of cool interior features of the building, the original hallways … The internal look of the building will remain the same.”

Building the new apartments will not begin for seven months. Installing a sprinkler system, renovating the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, framing the interior walls and installing bathroom fixtures and kitchen cabinets will lead to final inspections and a punch list of final upgrades. The units will go on the market 16 to 20 months from the start date.

Since submitting his special permit application Obear has heard criticisms that the project does not include affordable housing. He doesn’t deny the need for affordable apartments, only that small and mid-sized developers, who would take on a small project like the Whately School House, aren’t big enough to administer some aid programs.

“I agree, there’s a huge demand for affordable housing right now,” Obear said. “Most affordable housing now is highly highly subsidized by the state and federal governments, and requires what is called low income housing tax credits to offset the developers’ costs. Those tax credits are only able to be administered by a larger entity, typically a housing authority or large scale corporate developer … As a smaller developer, we’re doing the best we can to add quality housing stock to the local market.”

The public is invited to an online discussion with the Zoning Board of Appeals about the special permit application for the Whately School House. That Zoom meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 22 at 6:40 p.m.