Old Town Hall May Become Innovation Center

Select Board member Rob Archambault unveiled plans for a Seekonk Innovation and Stem Center, which will be on the site of the Old Town Hall on Taunton Avenue.

The structure, the former site of the Seekonk Police Department headquarters, has sat unoccupied for several years.

Archamabult estimated a cost of approximately $4 million to renovate the building, which will be used for workforce development.

“It’s a complete redo,” Archmabult said, noting state grants would be used to pay for the renovations.

“This project will serve our residents across generations, providing STEM, science, technology, mathematics, job training, after-school and summer youth programs, and a dedicated Native American town hall history museum/library.”

Archambault said the town would have to work with companies with job openings, such as in robotics, artificial intelligence, and mathematics.

“I would think, without the grants, this project wouldn’t see the light of day,” said Chair Gary Sagar.

“We’re talking millions to really make something of that building,” Archambault added.

The property, constructed in 1897, had been sold to the Seaconke Wampanoags for $55 in 2014. The tribe had intended to convert the building into a cultural and meeting center. Those plans fell through and now the town owns the building again.

At an October 2022 meeting with the Old Town Hall Building Committee, the Board of Selectmen approved a feasibility study for the building. At the time, Town Administrator Shawn Cadime said the study would present viable options of what could be done with the building and at that point, decide how the Town should move forward with it.

In 2018, Selectmen designated the task of determining the building’s value to members of the town’s Historical commission and the Community Preservation Committee.

Voters at last November’s Town Meeting rejected a warrant article which would have authorized the Select Board to sell the property.