Wayland Seeks Bids For New Town Community Center

WAYLAND, MA — Wayland has issued a request-for-proposals (RFP) for a new community center to house the Council on Aging, recreation activities, and other town functions. The RFP is seeking bids for land or an existing building to lease that's up to 21,000 square-feet, according to the bid.

The idea for a new community center facility has been around for years, and in the past has focused on a site called the "municipal pad" — a 1.72 acre parcel next to the Wayland Town Center along the Boston Post Road. A 2018 study by DG Jones International put the cost of a new community center at the municipal pad at around $4.5 million.

The new RFP states that the town's preference would be to find land in Wayland to purchase and then build on. The town anticipates special Town Meeting on the matter this fall.

"The Town’s desired time frame for purchasing property or a building, or leasing a building is following a Special Town Meeting in the fall of 2020, which is anticipated to take place sometime in October or November 2020, where the Town would request an appropriation for the purchase or lease price. The Town would anticipate closing on a purchase of land or a building, or signing lease documents and entering into an agreement with a landlord on or before January 1, 2021," the RFP says.

The town opened the project for bids on Dec. 28, and submissions are due by Jan. 27. You can read the whole bid here: