Baldwinville Road property back up for bid
Eryn DionNews Staff Writer
TEMPLETON — The property at 252 Baldwinville Road will again be put out to bid, after the Board of Selectmen indicated during their meeting that they have a party interested in purchasing the town-owned building.
Selectman Doug Morrison and Interim Town Administrator Bob Markel stated they knew of companies seeking to either purchase or lease the building — although Mr. Morrison was quick to point out that an out right purchase would be the preferable route as the town was not equipped to be a landlord.
“I don’t think we should even consider taking on the role of a landlord,” Mr. Morrison said. “We have enough irons in the fire now.”
Other board members agreed that putting the building out to bid would be the best decision, even if it meant that Templeton would lose money.
“We’re going to take a loss on the building,” said board member Julie Farrell. “There’s no way we’re going to get $700,000 back to recoup what was put into it. What it will do is put it back on the tax rolls and that, to me, is positive.”
The town has made one loan payment on the property and still owes around $525,000, for which they will be responsible even after its sale.
The property was originally purchased in 2010 after a town meeting vote approved to borrow $1.9 million for the building in order to renovate it into a new town hall.
Due to various factors — including high construction costs — the project was abandoned and several attempts to sell the property have failed.
Bids were accepted in April of last year with a minimum offer set at around $300,000. No bids were received at that time and another attempt in September, with no minimum requirement, again yielded no offers.
The board agreed to sell the property as-is with no minimum bid requirement in order to attract as much interest as possible. Mr. Markel stated he could get a bid document out and begin the process fairly soon, as much of the legwork has already been completed.
Vice Chairman Kenn Robinson also made it clear that, should the building be sold, it would not help their financial situation this year because the money would need to be certified as free cash for use in the next fiscal year.
The board voted unanimously to put the building up for bid, although no official timeline for the process was given.
I'll bet you don't know we have our own indoor skating rink. How did our 400,000 investment turn into a skating rink ?? My guess is it just may be the roof , but who knows !! The 252 story is so sad, it makes me sick just to think how the people have been suckered into spending their hard earned money on that mess, especially when other things need attention and won't get it because of a lack of funds. Bev.
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