This first appeared in The Salem News.

HAMILTON — Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has ended its plan to move to Boston and will likely remain on a smaller portion of its Hamilton campus while selling the rest.

President Scott Sunquist said Thursday the seminary looked at 19 different sites in Boston but could not find a suitable location that would accommodate apartments for students.

“One of our guiding principles is we need residential education,” Sunquist said.

Gordon-Conwell announced last year that it planned to sell all or part of its 102-acre campus and relocate to the Boston area. Sunquist said the school no longer needs the entire campus because more students are taking online classes and a move to a smaller footprint would make more sense financially. He said the school has three to four times more classroom and office space than it needs.

Sunquist said Gordon-Conwell is still planning to sell all or most of its campus, but could remain there either by retaining ownership of a portion of the property or leasing back space from a new owner.

“We want to have families to be able to come here,” he said. “There are seminaries that are pushing everything online. We want to have a strong residential program and not assume that all education is going to go online.”

Before it attempts to sell any campus property, the seminary is looking for the town of Hamilton to approve a zoning change that would make the property more attractive to potential buyers.

Consultants hired by the seminary and the town concluded that the best uses include converting student dorms into multifamily housing, building new 55-and-over housing, and reusing existing buildings or constructing new buildings for life science or office space. Their analysis said the new uses could generate an estimated $1.6 million to $3.6 million in annual tax revenues for the town, and new housing could enable the town to meet its state Chapter 40B obligations to provide more affordable housing.

Sunquist said Gordon-Conwell has hired a real estate firm to market the property, a process that could start in July. He said the money from a sale would fund more scholarships for students.

There are a lot of moving parts in a potential sale and there is still a possibility that Gordon-Conwell could end up moving, Sunquist said, perhaps to a local college that is looking to downsize on its campus.

“We started out with 10 to 15 options, but now we’re down to the fact that there’s a very good chance we’ll end up on a part of this property and I feel good about that,” he said.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

ABOUT THE GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY:

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary combines a rich tradition with cutting-edge educational innovation. Rooted in the gospel and God’s Word, the seminary seeks to develop Christian leaders who are thoughtful, globally aware, spiritually mature, and ready for a broad array of ministries.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PIVOT TOWARDS A NEW BEGINNING:

Visit www.gcts.edu/pivot for FAQs, articles, and more.