Great Barrington — There are truck fumes and falling bricks, there is asbestos dust, a leaking toilet, blown fuses and, every winter, a few days here and there without heat.
The old firehouse on Castle Street is not a healthy place to work or visit, or one that would pass muster with any building inspector. Yet this is where the offices of the building and health inspectors reside, relocated there, across from Town Hall, after the fire department left for new digs on State Road almost 6 years ago.
Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said in an email that the town is working to move those offices out, but said it is time-consuming as it involves a storage room cleanup project to make room in Town Hall. In a longer conversation about the firehouse at Monday’s (June 27) Selectboard meeting, Tabakin further said the firehouse had “numerous issues,” and there had been a “back and forth” between the town and the firehouse’s principal owner, Thomas Borshoff, about heating and plumbing that had since been repaired, but was “time-consuming and hard to deal with.”
Tabakin said town employees there have been told they will be moved out.
And the Selectboard, frustrated at the snail’s pace of development plans for the site, the deterioration and lack of maintenance of the building and property, and Borshoff’s apparent silence about his plans for the site, voted unanimously Monday on a motion made by board vice chair Steve Bannon instructing Tabakin to meet with Borshoff and come back in 30 days with information about his plans, and for her to hasten the process of moving the two town offices back to Town Hall.
Borshoff purchased the property for $50,000 in 2014 as part of 20 Castle LLC, a partnership he formed with local attorney and former long-time Town Moderator Ed McCormick, and Housatonic Water Works owner Jim Mercer. Mercer, however, referred all calls to Borshoff, and would not confirm whether he was still part of the consortium. Borshoff has not returned calls for this or previous stories.
McCormick confirmed Tuesday he is still part owner of the property, and that recent news stories on the issue have been “far from the truth.” He told the Edge Tabakin has communicated to 20 Castle in “letters” that said the owners had “the right to modify and revise the visions that were set forward [upon purchase] and that they could take whatever time they needed to redevelop and work on the project.
And Tabakin told the Edge she has “asked town counsel to review the project and documents to see how we can move things forward.”
Several sources speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Edge that every week bricks fall off the 110-year-old building, for instance, and that fumes rise up into the offices from the old fire truck bays that now house the overflow of Department of Public Works vehicles. Sources further said the heat sometimes fails because the furnace breaks, or because the gas bill wasn’t paid.
McCormick told the Edge that a “whole brand new heating system” was recently installed, however.
The building also does not comply with ADA (American Disabilities Act) standards.
The historic property adjacent to the Mahaiwe Theatre is under scrutiny right now after shop and restaurant owners who rely on the alleyway next to the firehouse, said the alley is deteriorating to the point that delivery and other trucks find it impassable. Borshoff also owns the alleyway, and when he bought the entire property in 2014 promised to improve it as part of a larger development that included a culinary school and farm-to-table restaurant.
McCormick, however, said 20 Castle has plans for “developing” the alleyway, and reminded the Edge that it is private property, sold with the 110-year old building, and that using it outside of some specific agreed-upon terms in the purchase agreement addenda is “trespassing.”
“I cringe seeing the cars parked there, and people thinking they have a right to use it,” he said. “If I’ve got potholes on my property, I have a right to have them.” He said a press release about the intended work to the alleyway is forthcoming.
But two years have passed, and work has not yet begun while the town continues to pay $2,500 per month plus utilities to house the offices of the town inspection services. The situation has further raised eyebrows over a friendly property tax deal Borshoff struck with the town through a state economic development program in return for improving the building and getting it back on the tax rolls.
In a previous article the Edge cited dated information, and incorrectly said 20 Castle did not have to pay property taxes for the first three years. Town Assessor Chris Lamarre told the Edge the firehouse was assessed at $288,100 in 2016, and the LLC paid a total of $4,496.87 in taxes, including fire district water and Community Preservation Act fees.
A tax incremental financing agreement (TIF), however, gives 20 Castle a break on an incremental percentage of annual taxes over 10 years if they improve the property and create jobs within a certain amount of time. Tabakin addressed the issue Monday night, saying so far, by waiting to develop the property, 20 Castle has not taken advantage of the TIF. “It has received zero tax benefits from the town,” she said. “The town is not out any money.”
The TIF between 20 Castle and the town is reproduced below, at the end of this article.
She further said she contacted the state’s Economic Assistance Coordinating Council (EACC), which runs the tax incentive program for business development and job creation. “The level of investment has been slow…on the building,” she said. “TIF is based on investments.” But, she added, the board could ask town meeting voters to revoke the TIF, which would then ultimately be approved by EACC. EACC officials did not return calls to the Edge.
Bannon said it was “unclear” whether Borshoff was “planning to use the TIF or not.”
It is this lack of clarity about Borshoff’s plans and timing of work to the firehouse that have frustrated residents and selectboard members. Chair Sean Stanton said the situation was “ridiculous at this point. It seems crazy.” He said he wanted to know why improvements haven’t been made or discussed. “If there’s a reason, then it would be nice to know what it is.”
“I think we need to put as much pressure [on Borshoff] as we possibly can,” Stanton added, noting 20 Castle’s annual tax payment at this point “pales in comparison to what we’re paying in rent.”
Tabakin told the Edge in an email Building Inspector Edwin May “will address the driveway potholes with the building owner. He may have already done this,” she added, “after he received the complaint from the neighbor [shop owner].” But Tabakin said she would follow up on this on Monday, and consult with the Department of Public Works.
Seeing the lag in movement on the property, two developers contacted Borshoff to express interest in buying the property. While the Edge has submitted a Request for Public Information to Town Hall to obtain a copy of the most recent engineering report, the Edge observed worn down linoleum tiles in which an asbestos-containing glue was used to adhere them to the floor. Brick fragments were scattered on the low roof outside, where from above, bricks fall regularly.
But McCormick says 20 Castle is working with
architects and engineers. “We intend to go forward with the renovation, and we will divulge our plans in the near future. There are extenuating circumstances why the work has not been done up to this point.”
He also said 20 Castle isn’t doing anything wrong. “We negotiated this, fair and square. The town was represented by an attorney, and our negotiations were on terms that we were willing to purchase this. The town is under a secure lease.
“The first thing we will do,” he added, “is work on the alleyway, and we will work with town and develop that.”
