ESSEX — The cottage at Centennial Grove will be making its big screen debut when Adam Sandler's movie "Grown Ups" hits the theaters on June 30 — but the future of the town-owned building is now in question.
Centennial Grove was closed to the public this past summer after Lakefront Productions Inc. rented the park for the filming of the movie that brought high-profile stars Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, Salma Hayek and others to Cape Ann this summer.
Although most of the filming was complete by mid-September and most of Centennial Grove was reopened in October, the production company just finished its restoration work of the cottage last week. It has been outfitted with a new kitchen, a new bathroom and the exterior has been renovated.
"I think they did excellent work," Selectmen Ray Randall said of the production company. That came on top of the $150,000 the company paid the town for use of the site.
Now, however, the Essex Youth Commission, which typically uses the cottage for its summer programs, has been asked by town officials to develop a plan for its summer programs without the use of the newly restored cottage. The cottage has been used as an arts and craft area, a snack stand, and for various other programs in the past, said Essex Youth Commission Director Marilyn Klyka-Simpson,.
Randall says he hopes the cottage will no longer be used by the Essex Youth Commission, and suggested the town should look into selling it. He added that, by some estimates, the sale of the cottage could bring in between $750,000 to $1 million for the town, and that could potentially be used to further upgrade Centennial Grove and the surrounding fields.
"It is not a feasible or an efficient use of the property," said Randall of the summer program's use of the cottage.
He added that the cottage is only used for a few weeks during the summer and a few times throughout the year. Other than that, he noted, it is used for storage.
"It has curb value now," he said, "and we want to keep it that way."
The cottage once housed a caretaker who looked over Centennial Grove; it went abandoned for two years before Klyka-Simpson requested to use the facilities for the summer program in 2001, she said. The cottage used to have two levels and multiple rooms indoors but is now one big open room.
"On a rainy day, we would use it for arts and crafts and to watch movies," said Klyka-Simpson. "There was an air hockey table in there."
The summer program was moved out of Centennial Grove entirely this past summer as a result of the filming and ran most of its programs at Essex Elementary School. Klyka-Simpson said the move really limited the program offerings.
"It was hard to offer what we could at the Grove," she said.
The film production crew also built — and now left behind — two new basketball courts at the Grove that were used in the taping; the parking lot has been fixed up, and the local Field of Dreams has been reseeded because of damage caused by production vehicles parking there.
Klyka-Simpson said she has submitted plans for the summer program that do not include the use of the Grove cottage.
She said she has not been told officially she can't use the building for the programs. But she noted that, in order to run a successful summer program at the Grove, there needs to be some indoor facility accessible for inclement weather.
Randall said other solutions can be worked out.
"The town doesn't need it," he said of the cottage. "Why should we keep a cottage we can't take care of?"
Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
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