(This story by Ed Damon was first published in the Bennington Banner on Sept. 28, 2017.
[B]ENNINGTON— A Grove Street home will be the fourth home renovated by Healthy Homes for Bennington program.
The house is one of four properties acquired at tax sale by Healthy Homes, a low-profit limited liability company that is a project of Southwestern Vermont Health Care, in cooperation with The Bank of Bennington and the Town of Bennington.
Healthy Homes for Bennington is buying up downtown homes in an effort to renovate abandoned properties and provide affordable housing for employees.
The single-family home at 213 Grove St. requires “a substantial amount of work,” according to Town Manager Stuart Hurd, who recommended that the Select Board accept Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s $30,000 offer, even though the bid was below the minimum amount of $38,687.
Kevin P. Dailey, vice president of human resources for the hospital, said in a letter to town officials that the Healthy Homes initiative aims to “acquire and completely renovate abandoned single family properties.”
“If our bid is accepted, we fully expect to incur a loss upon sale of the renovated property,” Dailey wrote. “We consider the ‘loss’ as our investment to the improvement of this residential district.”
Healthy Homes has already renovated two residences, one on County Street and another on Park Street. A third on Spring Street is underway.
Dailey compared the state of disrepair of the Grove Street property with the Park Street home, which was purchased for $25,000 in an “arms-lenth” transfer with the owner.
After the Park Street home was renovated, it was reappraised at $140,000.
“We anticipate that the fully-renovated Grove Street residence will have a comparable value,” Dailey said. Restoring the home to “close to new” condition will cost $110,000.
