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Proposed new uses for the North Main Street fire station have ranged from a brewpub to a barbershop to a bakery. But the station’s future as a municipal building is uncertain.
Selectmen recently discussed the cost of repairing the station for town use versus selling the property to a private developer. The North Main Street fire station will no longer be needed once the new $22 million public safety building on Rt. 106 is completed next spring.
“We’re talking about an 1930s building that’s falling into decline,” Fire Chief Neal Boldrighini said. “There’s a lot of money that needs to go into this.” Boldrighini explained how the high cost of repairing the station, determined by a 2010 study, contributed to the decision to build the new public safety building. Since that study the tower was taken down because it was about to collapse, Boldrighini said. The building needs brick work, a new electrical system, new heating system and new roof. “It’s a 1930s electrical system that’s been redone, and redone, and redone,” he said. ”(The roof) leaks in every rainstorm. “When we look at this facility as a reuse facility for the town we are looking at a lot of money that needs to go into it,” Boldrighini said. It would cost $1.2 million to just repair the building, Boldrighini said. That would not include making it handicapped accessible or any renovation needed to allow another use. “When we look at this fire station as beautiful as it is, and as historical and with as much meaning as it has to the town, to put the onus of that kind of repair on the town without some income from that or some bonus we get for the town, it really has to be looked at,” Boldrighini said.
Following the 2010 study, Public Buildings/Special Projects Michael Ahern said the intention was to sell the station once vacant. “That’s why haven’t put a lot of money into it,” he said. “There was lot of discussion in past that building should be sold, but was never a formal determination,” Selectman Frank DelVecchio said. “No vote was ever taken.” “There’s a lot to think about,” Selectman Jess Aptowitz said. “Do we want to sell it? Or do we want to keep it and repurpose it?” “It hurts for a lot of people who love that beautiful, gorgeous façade,” Selectman Steve Schoonveld said. “But it’s $1.2 million to just get to a black canvas.” “I guess the question is, given the cost, there is no way the town is going to want to spend the money to bring it up to acceptable condition for some community use,” Selectman Neil Rhein said. “The question is, ‘will a private entity want to sink that kind of money into this building?’
“If someone doesn’t want to buy it, then what? Do we tear it down and sell the land?” Ahern said a private developer may be able to renovate the building for less than the town. “Do we as a board want to make an attempt to preserve the building, selling it subject to keeping the structure in place?” selectmen Chairman Michael Trowbridge asked. Ahern told the board they could put restrictions protecting the building in a possible sale. Trowbridge said if there were no developers interested in preserving the building, they could consider a sale without restrictions. Town Manager Kevin Dumas said the first step will be to decide if the town wants to sell the building. Trowbridge said he sensed the board was not interested in keeping the old station. “I just don’t see any use the town has for it,” he said.
By Donna Whitehead
From Mansfield Wicked Local