Housing Vermont to buy Woolson Block

The Woolson Block Property, empty since this spring, will have a fresh start this fall.

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Town approves $200,000 loan for purchase of Woolson Block
The town of Springfield approved a $200,000 loan to Housing Vermont and the Springfield Housing Authority Tuesday to cover the purchase price of the Woolson Block, part of a $5 million renovation plan.

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2016-08-18 / Front Page Housing Vermont to buy Woolson Block Plans include $4.5M renovation project By Tory Jones Bonenfant toryb@eagletimes.com The Woolson Block property at 39 Main St. in Springfield. The selectboard voted Tuesday to approve a $200,000 revolving loan fund to a housing partnership that plans to renovate the building. — TORY JONES BONENFANT The Woolson Block property at 39 Main St. in Springfield. The selectboard voted Tuesday to approve a $200,000 revolving loan fund to a housing partnership that plans to renovate the building. — TORY JONES BONENFANT SPRINGFIELD — The Woolson Block Property, empty since this spring, will have a fresh start this fall. The Springfield Selectboard unanimously approved a $200,000 loan to Housing Vermont (HV) and Springfield Housing Authority (SHA) for the purchase of the property for an estimated $4.5 million renovation project. “I think everybody is looking forward to some improvements downtown,” said Board Chair Kristi Morris after the vote. Morris also said that SHA had done a “wonderful job” with the Ellis Block building, also recently renovated in downtown Springfield. The selectboard voted unanimously on Tuesday, Aug. 16 to approve a $200,000 revolving loan to HV at 0.5 percent interest, payable in a lump sum in three years or less, with the funds to be used to purchase the Woolson Block property at 39 Main St. That approval included the caveat that SHA retain the authority to vet and monitor the property for future tenants and subtenants, according to the motion read by Selectman George McNaughton. After some discussion on whether the loan was at 0.05 percent or 0.5 percent interest, the board unanimously approved the loan at 0.5 percent, or “a half a percent.” “It’s going to be a tough project … we’re looking for all the money we can get,” said SHA Director Bob Morlock. Technically, that loan will be to HV, which will hold the title, while SHA acts as manager for the building. Once HV has purchased the building from the current owner, E.J. Culley, ownership will transfer to a partnership between HV and SHA. That partnership entity will be responsible for payments, all according to Morlock. The plans for the building include renovations throughout, rental units upstairs, commercial units on the main floor, and a youth-in-transition program housed on the second floor, Morlock said. “I think we can fill it with commercial units,” Morlock said. Morlock said the town wanted SHA to get involved in the project because of a history of issues there. SHA partnered with Burlington-based HV to revitalize the building and bring it up to code, he said. Potential commercial tenants already considering moving into the renovated block include a bookstore, a wood-fired pizza restaurant, and a home decor company, Morlock said. The Jenny Wren Restaurant formerly occupying one of the downstairs units has decided not to come back, but a few other local business owners are showing interest, he said. Morlock said he also wants to create a youth-in-transition program for young adults, and is trying to partner with Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS), Windsor County Youth Services (WCYS), and Danielle Southwell with Brattleboro Youth Services to provide housing with a live-in manager and four units. As youth in the program hit their goals, the program would provide “wrap-around support” and services for two years to help them move in the right direction, Morlock said. “We’re pretty excited about getting the program going and making the building more vibrant,” Morlock said. Morlock said that realistically, it may take two years to complete the project. However, the HV / SHA partnership is looking tentatively at an Aug. 26 closing date, and work to secure the building, hire an architect for plans, and send out bids for construction can begin this fall, he said. At this time, the building is supposed to be empty, according to the state, and has been posted as such. “But people are squatting in there,” so the SHA will have to change all the locks, he said. Cully, the current owner, has owned the building since 2008 and agreed to sell it for $200,000. Following a tax auction sale last August, Cully had one year to redeem the property by paying the overdue taxes to the winning bidder plus 1 percent interest per month. He did redeem the requirements from the tax sale when he paid $25,000 plus $3,000 in interest to the town on Monday, Aug. 15, according to Town Clerk Barbara Courchesne. The current owner still owes money on the building, but will be accountable for that at closing, Courchene said. “The town will recover that money,” Morris said. The three-story, brick Italianate-style commercial building was built in 1868 by Amasa Woolson, Horace W. Thompson, and Frederick Parks. Covering the block from the public library to the intersection and down to the river, it has a stone foundation, brick masonry walls, brick and wood exterior trim, and built-up roofing and is attributed to architect George H. Guernsey, according to the Connecticut River Joint Commission’s website. The $4.5-$5 million project will be funded through not only the $200,000 revolving fund loan, but also through low-income housing tax credits, historic and state tax credits, and an application to a new federal housing trust fund which has provided Vermont with $3 million in funding, Morlock said. About $80,000 remains in the housing part of the town’s Revolving Fund loan at this time, not including the $200,000 approved for the Woolson Block, according to Morris. Morlock said SHA plans to renovate the Woolson Block as extensively as it did with the Ellis Block. Black River Designs has been working on preliminary conceptual designs, he said. Published August 17, 2016 in the Rutland Herald Town approves $200,000 loan for purchase of Woolson Block By SUSAN SMALLHEER SPRINGFIELD — The town of Springfield approved a $200,000 loan to Housing Vermont and the Springfield Housing Authority Tuesday to cover the purchase price of the Woolson Block, part of a $5 million renovation plan. “If this happens, it will be one of the best things to happen in Springfield in a long, long time,” said Select Board member George McNaughton. Housing Vermont and the Springfield Housing Authority have a contract to buy the historic 1869 block for $200,000 from E.J. Cully of Killington. The contract came after the two housing groups bought the Woolson Block at a tax sale a year ago, a move widely viewed as the first step toward one of the most respected groups in town taking over the problem block. The loan, to be repaid in three years, will be at 0.5 percent interest, and will come from the town’s revolving loan fund for economic development. The town has targeted many of the upstairs tenants of the building, who used to loiter on the sidewalk and sell drugs. Increased nighttime foot patrols by the police, and a couple of town ordinances aimed at the problem, have largely cleared up that problem. At one time last fall, Cully boarded up the entire building, and spray-painted pointed messages, criticizing the state fire safety inspectors. His protest was relatively short-lived and the spray-painted messages disappeared. Bill Morlock, the longtime executive director of the housing authority, said that a combination of federal and state credits would finance the ambitious renovation. He said it would probably be two years before the project is complete. Morlock said the Woolson Block project would be a repeat of a collaboration that renovated and restored the Ellis Block in downtown Springfield a few years ago. A 2007 fire gutted the block, which housed the town’s movie theater as well as about 40 single-occupancy apartments upstairs. The theater, completely renovated, has since reopened, and the number of apartments has been cut drastically, and is under the supervision of the Springfield Housing Authority. Morlock said that the housing authority already had several companies and businesses interested in the ground-floor commercial and retail space in the building. He said a special program for troubled youth, or youth-in-transition, run in conjunction with Health Care and Rehabilitation Services of Springfield, would occupy much of the second floor. He said the program would include a live-in manager. Those youth would later transition to other apartments in the building, Morlock said. Other partners in that project include Windsor County Youth Services and Springfield Supportive Housing. McNaughton included a condition on the $200,000 low-interest loan that the Springfield Housing Authority retain control to vet and supervise the tenants in the building. Morlock said that condition was fine with him, but he couldn’t vouch for the other parties. Town Clerk Barbara Courchesne told the Select Board and Morlock at a special meeting Tuesday that Cully had come in and paid off the delinquency, but he still owes the current year’s taxes, as well as water and sewer bills. That news seemed to take Morlock by surprise. He had earlier told the board that the tentative closing on the project was set for August 26. Morlock later told reporters that there were a couple of squatters living in the building, and that once the housing authority had control of the building, he would change the locks and get the squatters out. He said the building would not be boarded up until the renovation was started. Morlock said that one of the building’s former tenants, the JennyWren Cafe, had originally planned on returning to the building under the Housing Authority, but he said the owner, Genevieve Johnson, was now managing the Hartness House. A bookstore has already made inquiries, along with a wood-fired pizza restaurant, a home décor business, and a couple of other businesses in Springfield that want to locate downtown, Morlock said. He said he didn’t expect to have any problems filling the retail portions of a renovated building.