The Barre City Council has agreed to set aside $400,000 for a nonprofit’s fundraising campaign to buy a long vacant Main Street building. The council voted 4-3 on Monday to pledge the money to the Barre Area Development Corporation, which hopes to raise the full $1 million purchase price by June.
The nonprofit plans to buy the building at 143 North Main St., the former site of a Newberry’s five-and-dime store, from local real estate developers Jeff Jacobs and Steve Lewinstein. The building, which a representative of the development organization called the downtown’s “biggest eyesore,” has sat vacant since 2010 and is currently assessed at $325,800.
Steve Mackenzie, a board member for the nonprofit, said at the meeting that the owners’ sale price was “clearly an excessive amount.” But the advice of local officials in other cities in the same situation was “‘hold your nose and pay the price.’”
“I know that doesn’t sit well with a lot of people. It doesn’t really sit well with us, but I think an effort has to be made to do something and not let this building sit there empty again for … another five or 10 years,” he said.
However, some city councilors criticized the plan at the Monday night meeting. The majority of the 15 public comments appeared to be in opposition to the plan as well.
Among the key objections was that the funds would be better spent on other priorities — like helping homeowners affected by the 2023 and 2024 floods.
“The most heartbreaking city council meeting I have ever been to (was) where several property owners were trying to get out from under flooded properties, had lived here for a long time, had cared deeply about their homes. And what we had to say to them was ‘sorry, we can’t help. Sorry, you’re out of luck.’ It was devastating,” Barre resident Ellen Kaye said at the meeting. “I remember how hard it was to sleep that evening, and now we’re talking about $400,000 given to private owners to get out from under a building that has been neglected, that has been empty, because we want a better-looking downtown?”
Opponents who spoke at the council meeting also cited the city’s needs for infrastructure and housing. “The city is financially really hurting, and there are so many compelling things that are demanding our attention,” said Ward 1 City Councilor Emel Cambel. “And every day a water main breaks, every time some catastrophe happens, there’s more and more money that has to be put out.”
Others said they didn’t believe the city had fully exercised its options for getting the property owners to fix up the property or to force a sale. The city has performed several code and fire inspections on the building over the past few years, most recently in December, according to City Manager Nick Storellicastro.
Karl Rinker, interim director of the Barre Area Development Corporation, said the building was almost certainly a “teardown.” The floor and ceiling are significantly damaged, and the property was not cleaned up after the July 2023 or 2024 floods.
Teddy Waszazak had tendered his resignation from the council in December to serve as a state legislator but withdrew the resignation before the Monday night meeting to vote in favor of the measure. He said the council had explored options like declaring eminent domain on the property to convert it to public use or strengthening the vacant property ordinance to put in higher fines. Those efforts had fallen through.
Creating a city-wide rule could “potentially put other businesses at risk,” Waszazak said in an interview, adding that the council can’t make ordinances that just apply to one owner or property.
Overlake Park LLC, the Jacobs’ property management company, did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.
The city funds could come from one of two sources: a special fund of leftover federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars or a recent bequest from the estate of longtime city resident Eugene Cozzi, according to the city manager’s memo on the sale.
The city money would not go to the sale unless the rest of the cost is raised, according to a presentation at the council meeting from the Barre Area Development Corporation.
Rinker said the nonprofit does not yet have a plan for how to use the property if it is able to buy it. Right now, the board members are focused on raising the $600,000 needed to meet the deal by the June 11 deadline. Board members have already contributed $75,000 of their own money, and the nonprofit is planning to launch a GoFundMe campaign in the coming weeks.
Ideas floated during the council meeting included housing, a hotel or a multi-use building combining retail, housing and office space. Storellicastro cited the city’s sale of the Seminary Street parking lot to nonprofit developer Downstreet for new housing as a model for how the newly purchased property could be used.
Rinker emphasized that whatever happened with the property post-sale was likely to benefit the city’s coffers in the long run from additional property tax revenue from a higher-value property. The campaign comes at a time when Barre’s downtown has seen an increase in new businesses.
Alongside Waszazak, councilor Michael Deering II, councilor Amanda Gustin and Mayor Thom Lauzon voted in favor of the measure. Councilors Sonya Spaulding, Samn Stockwell and Cambel voted against it.
Waszazak criticized other City Council members and the city manager for opposing the use of the special fund money for helping homeowners.
“To the members of the council who would rather spend money bailing out flood victims, please bring that proposal forward. Please get it warned on the city agenda,” he said. Stockwell said she hoped to do just that in the next two months.
Gustin said that Barre was in the “deeply unenviable” position of “having to do all of the things,” such as flood recovery, infrastructure, housing and capital projects for the future.
“We have a lot to do and a long way to go, and we’ve got to keep making those commitments to doing, frankly, a little bit of everything that we can,” she said.
