Great Barrington — Almost one year after the town first put out requests for proposals to redevelop the former Housatonic School building, the Select Board chose North Adams and Pittsfield company WDM Properties LLC to redevelop the property at its meeting on Monday, December 19 over a proposal submitted by Arete Venture Partners LLC of Nanuet, N.Y.
The elementary school building, located at 207 Pleasant St. in Housatonic, was built in 1907 and has been vacant since it was shut down in 2003. WDM Properties plans on turning the building into a 10-unit apartment complex, with rents set at $1,765 a month. Each apartment is planned to be 1,200 square feet in size and will include two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a wash and dryer.
At a meeting on November 7, company project manager David Carver told the Select Board that the rent for the apartment units will be capped at no higher than 30 percent of the area’s median household income, including utilities. He said that the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that the area’s median household income is $92,100 a month. Carver estimated that the total budget for the project would be $3,500,000.
Arete Venture Partners LLC proposed a plan that would include constructing 14 residential apartments on the second and third floors of the building, which would have included four 650-square-foot studio apartments that would be set at affordable housing rates. At the December 19 Select Board meeting, however, company general partner Jeff Glickman said that the company submitted a series of additions to its application that he said would “meet with what we are trying to do to meet with the objectives of the town.”
Glickman said that the company has a high-level reverse osmosis water filtration system and additional parking spots in its plans. He said that the company also received two letters of interest from “bona fide current Berkshire area entrepreneurs” for a laundromat and a gym in the building. Glickman added that the company would apply for a historical tax credit from the state, contrary to its original plans, which would reduce the company’s request from the town from $2.7 million to $2.1 million to finance the project.
However, the company’s additions to its plans did not impress Select Board Vice-Chair Leigh Davis. “I am hesitant to take this and put any weight behind it,” Davis said. “I appreciate that you are listening to residents’ concerns for a desire for a laundromat and a gym, but I feel that at this late stage that it’s not fair for us to take this with a lot of weight because [the additions] came in at the last moment. I just wonder why this wasn’t part of the additional package?”
“It was never brought up that there was a requirement to have a firm and committed commercial tenant for what we were doing,” Glickman told Davis. “We proposed having a commercial ground floor and we thought that would be the best use for the space.”
“With the laundromat, have you done tests to see that there’s enough water pressure?” Davis asked Glickman. “And that when people do their laundry, it’s not going to be brown?”
“Assuming the water is filtered and that the building is up to [code specifications], and that we have the right amount of water intake which would be part of the construction process,” Glickman said. “I don’t understand why people would have brown laundry.”
Davis added that she has reservations about the company’s $2.1 million request from the town, which would have to go for a town meeting vote.
Select Board member Eric Gabriel said that he was impressed with both proposals, but that he leaned towards choosing the proposal from Arete Venture Partners because of the prospect of having a mixed-use building. “I do also envision it as a long-term investment into our neighborhood and our town,” Gabriel said. “I think that’s the way we need to look at it. Not through the shortness of a tough budget season, but the long-term benefits that this will bring.”
Select Board Chairman Stephen Bannon agreed with Davis in regards to asking residents at a town meeting to approve funds for the project. “It’s not something I’m willing to endorse,” Bannon said. “Yes, [the Arete] project will help the town, but I think both projects will help the town equally.”
“If we go to Arete, and it goes to town meeting and [residents] votes no for the funding, then we risk having no one [for the project],” Davis told Bannon. “Then we’re starting from square one because we will have no RFPs. We’re going to be starting from scratch.”
Eventually, the board voted to go with WDM Properties LLC by a 4-1 vote, with Gabriel voting against awarding the project to the company.
