AMHERST — Mostly vacant since fall 2018 when an alternative program for teens moved from the 1001 South East St. site to Amherst Regional High School, South Amherst School’s future could be determined by recommendations from a consultant.

Amherst officials recently placed an advertisement seeking professional services to complete a comprehensive, detailed study of the aging building, which dates back to the late 1800s, and the 3 acres or so on which it sits.

“The consultant will be looking at the building and site for potential opportunities, most likely housing,” Town Manager Paul Bockelman said.

After Summit Academy, also known as the Amherst Alternative Junior High School, moved to the high school six years ago, the school district turned the building over to the town. Used for municipal storage since, the building, though connected to town water and sewer and with an operable heating system, has been deemed uninhabitable, with its certificate of occupancy expired.

The town had eyed the building as potential swing space for departments, like the Department of Public Works and Fire Department, and Amherst Media looked at it as a possible temporary site after leaving its longtime home on College Street, though instead went to a University Drive building.

“Is it salvageable or not, and what can be put there?” Bockelman said. “We need to know what we have first, and what are the possibilities?”

The one-story, Greek Revival building, with a full basement, was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, with a 1950s-era annex with a slant roof attached to the older building via a glass walkway.

The historical record provided to the Massachusetts Historical Commission shows that the building, originally known as South Amherst Elementary School, was the first two-room schoolhouse in that part of town. Until 1917, one classroom was for students in grades 1 to 4, while the second classroom housed students in grades 5 to 9. About 30 children were educated in each classroom.

The site is along the Fiddlers Green Common, along with other active community buildings, including the South Congregational Church and Munson Memorial Library,

Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek said the site is flat and dry, and may be ideal for some kind of development “with all the emphasis on the need for housing, both in the town and across the region.”

Within four to five months, Ziomek said the hope would be for a concept of how the property could be used by the town.

The possibility of redeveloping the South Amherst site comes as the town and nonprofit partners continue to move forward on other housing developments.

At the former East Street School, Way Finders Inc. is making its way through local permitting for incorporating that building into a larger project, along with properties on Belchertown Road. This will lead to 78 mixed-income apartments across the two sites.

At the 457 Main St. site where the VFW stood until being demolished in late summer, a presentation by Narrow Gate Architecture took place on Wednesday.

The presentation, titled VFW Development for Shelter & Housing Concept, follows an input session in June and will outline the number of beds that could be accommodated at a homeless shelter on site, the supportive services that would be available and how many apartments could rise there, with some number of these dwellings expected to be set aside for veterans.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.