By David Scribner
December 6, 2013
The firehouse, the bloody old Castle Street firehouse in Great Barrington. And the town’s 21-month struggle to sell the 120-year-old historic structure. Aren’t you just sick and tired of this story? It’s like the brouhaha over the Dollar General store in Sheffield. Only worse and more prolonged. I mean, what’s wrong with items for a dollar? If it were named Tiffany’s, would there be the same controversy?
Castle Street Firehouse
But to get back to the Barrington of Greatness: When will the town’s talking heads (talking behind closed doors) at Town Hall manage to conclude the interminable negotiations to sell the bloody Castle Street firehouse? In February of 2012 they accepted the $50,000 offer from Rochester, N.Y.-based entrepreneur Thomas Borshoff so that the town could then invest another $250,000 in removing asbestos contamination. All this for a property that will enjoy a handsome tax abatement for its first few years – and potentially become a nonprofit tax shelter after that.
And is it possible to satisfy – as the Board of Selectmen has pledged to do — the requirements of Railroad Street merchants who need access to the alleyway behind their establishments, access provided only by a driveway that is part of the firehouse parcel and on which Borshoff had planned to install an outdoor café?
Maybe so. Maybe not.
Last week, Borshoff, Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin, and Chef Shop owner Rob Navarino had a conference call during which Borshoff offered to allow delivery trucks to navigate a widened driveway only once a week between the hours of 2 and 4 in the afternoon – and he was the only beneficiary of this arrangement. Other merchants would have to comply with a before 10 a.m. window.
“I’m not going to agree to it,” Navarino said. “It’s not workable for me, and I’m not going to make a private deal that undercuts the other businesses. We are all affected by this, and we’ve all worked together to keep access to our businesses. I had suggested to Borshoff that he allow a once-a-week delivery between 2 and 5 during the months when the café is open, and at any time during the other months. But he insisted on one a week all year round.”
Navarino continues: “Borshoff said he had to restrict deliveries because it would devalue his lease to tenants. Lease? We don’t know who the tenants are. What about my business, and how it is devalued by lack of timely delivery access.”
In an interview this week, Borshoff declined to comment on the details of any negotiations, saying that” I’m a very superstitious person, and I believe that if you talk about things prematurely, you’ll jinx them. But I’m very, very committed to this project, and I think our negotiations will be finished soon.”
Earlier this fall, Borshoff said that he was planning to invest upwards of $5 million to renovate the firehouse and rebuild it into a restaurant facility that will become an educational center for the region, a rehabilitation that would begin as soon as the sale is closed.
Then, there’s the matter of where to relocate the offices of the town’s building and health inspectors, now situated on the firehouse’s second floor.
Building Inspector Ed May says he know of no plan for new spaces for either him or Health Inspector Mark Pruhenski. He expects to stay put for an unspecified number of years while the town then pays Borshoff rent.
But Borshoff categorically denied a report that the town would be paying $4,000 per month to rent space for the inspection services, as has been asserted without foundation or verification in the local press.
“That is completely inaccurate,” he stated.
For her part, Tabakin maintains that a cost benefit analysis finds that the project to convert the surplus firehouse into a vocational culinary institute will ultimately be to the town’s advantage. And to be fair, she inherited this messy sale and probably wouldn’t have had it proceed the way it has had she been guiding the process.
Still, her insistence on keeping mum on the status of the negotiations is fueling speculation about Town Hall intrigues and machinations.
Twenty-one months is an awfully long time for a sale to be hanging fire. It’s no wonder that people are demanding to know what’s going on. After all, the sales agreement does allow either party to pull out on seven days notice.