Great Barrington — For some reason, nobody wants to talk about the old Castle Street firehouse, finally sold 18 months ago after tortuous, extended negotiations between the town and 20 Castle Street LLC, a consortium whose principal was Rochester, New York-developer Thomas Borshoff, but that also initially included local lawyer Edward McCormick and Housatonic Water Company owner Jim Mercer.

The town is paying to rent part of the building for its building and health inspectors from the consortium it sold the historic structure to in 2014. As a renter, the town is also paying insurance and utilities.
After more than five years of trying, mostly during the tenure of former Town Manager Kevin O’Donnell, the town sold the Castle Street firehouse, thrilled by the prospect of seeing the redevelopment of one of its unused and decaying buildings. The town also looked forward to some incoming tax dollars from a property conveyed to the town by the Great Barrington Fire District in 1976. The 115-year-old building served as both fire and police station until the police department got its own digs on South Main Street in 1999.
After a series of no bids, failed bids, and request for proposals that did not pan out, Thomas Borshoff, principal backer of 20 Castle Street LLC paid the town $50,000 in May 2014 at the office of his attorney and partner in 20 Castle, Edward McCormick. This was after what appears to have been about two years of negotiations, since the original purchase and sale agreement was dated 2012.

Borshoff’s vision was — and may still be –– to redevelop the property as a vocational education center that will feature a culinary school and restaurant with an al fresco café on its west side facing the railroad embankment. The purchase and sale agreement says his intention is also to develop a “pedestrian walkway” between Castle and Railroad Streets, and to build a 30-foot retaining wall on the west side of the property. 20 Castle LLC’s “long-term investment” is “anticipated” to approach $4 million, according to the agreement.
Borshoff declined to comment.
The town is also responsible for the cost of environmental remediation, mostly asbestos, of up to $270,000, with 20 Castle paying $80,000 of that. As part of the agreement, 20 Castle will contribute $3,000 for the town’s environmental consultant.
After some controversy, in which some Railroad Street merchants were concerned about clearance behind their shops and restaurants for delivery, utility and trash removal trucks, Borshoff also offered to do up to $350,000 in work on the west side of the firehouse to widen the driveway.

Apparently, the town was so eager to offload the firehouse that it was willing to make a sweet deal with any buyer. According to the 2012 purchase and sale agreement with 20 Castle, the LLC has a “tax increment financing agreement” — approved by voters at 2012 Annual Town Meeting, and for which McCormick recused himself as Town Moderator– that holds the assessment at $50,000 while the town is still paying rent. From there the firehouse will have a 10-year value schedule as follows: years 1-4, $50,000; years 5-7, $300,000; years 8-10, $500,000. After this time, the property will be assessed at its “full and fair value…” It includes a provision that if this “full and fair value” is less than $500,000, 20 Castle “has the option” to pay that lesser amount.
But the town, having nowhere nearby to put its Health and Building departments, along with the overflow of Department of Public Works vehicles, struck another deal with Borshoff to rent space for $2,500 per month plus insurance. At the time, Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said that the town was spending more than this fee for maintenance and upkeep of the firehouse. She said Castle Street LLC would be responsible for repairs to the second floor, where the two town departments reside.
In previous statements to The Edge, Borshoff said he planned to use local architects and contractors for the restoration. “I am very confident that we will be able to stand here sometime in the future, and find that Castle Street has been transformed by this restoration,” he told the Edge in 2014.
Tabakin, who came to town after most of the arrangements with Borshoff were already in progress, did not want to comment, either.
Selectboard Chair Sean Stanton also remained mum. But he has spoken up about the firehouse before. When Department of Public Works asked for funds last spring to build a $210,000 pole barn to store the vehicle overflow, Stanton didn’t like the idea that the town might double pay, and suggested the town agree to build the barn only after the town moves out of the firehouse. Voters at Annual Town Meeting agreed, voting on this condition. DPW Director Joe Sokul confirmed that when Borshoff decides to begin work on the building, and would effectively “evict” the town, the barn construction will go forward.
Last March, it looked like Borshoff might send the town packing by fall. Tabakin read his letter at a budget meeting, held, ironically, at the new fire station.

The letter was “meant as merely a courtesy reminder for your future space planning needs that the landlord has the ability to reclaim space beginning in year two, with at least 120 days notice,” Borshoff wrote.
Borshoff’s letter appeared to quell fears about the redevelopment’s molasses-like pace: “The work on the exterior, roof and alley side of the building soon to be embarked upon may entice interested buyers by generating ‘enthusiasm and excitement’.”
At that meeting, Tabakin told the Selectboard that Borshoff was “vague,” though “on the phone verbally…he wouldn’t put it in writing…but he said he wanted to get us out by the fall.”
The original partnership of 20 Castle included Borshoff, McCormick as project manager; Jim Mercer for historic preservation; and Phil Fitzsimmons, an adaptive reuse expert. Calls to McCormick’s office were not returned, however, to confirm this partnership is still intact.
Selectboard Vice Chair Steve Bannon was willing to talk, and said he was still hopeful. “I haven’t talked to Tom in a couple of months,” he said. “Last time I talked to him, he was still planning to do construction.”
Bannon added that while he had “no specifics” on what kind of construction was to begin, or when, he has “complete confidence in Tom. If he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it. I think he’s still going to do what he’s promised us.”