[MassHistPres] Possible Historic House Purchase in Randolph

[Tucker, Jonathan]

Mr. Cooke:

 

CPA funds can be used for acquisition, rehabilitation and restoration of
historic resources.  CPA funds can be combined with most grant funds in
fairly liberal ways (check with your Town Counsel). 

 

You might want to consider this as a multi-year CPA project and present
it that way.  Also, why rent it, if you can accomplish the same thing by
selling it (encumbered by deed restrictions that accomplish your
intended goals) to someone fascinated by its history?  That would spare
Randolph the costs of upkeep and maintenance, but allow it to control
the use and long-term maintenance and preservation of the building on
someone else's dime.  Renting provides you with income, but hardly ever
enough.  The costs of upkeep and restoration for houses of this kind are
prodigious and unending.

 

The first year's CPA request (Phase I) could cover purchase, and repairs
to ensure envelope integrity and stabilize the structure, and conduct an
Historic Structure Report.  To develop this project's costs, you'll need
an appraisal according to CPA guidelines (and those of any grant program
you're considering applying for), a structural analysis by a qualified
building inspector (maybe one of Randolph's public inspectors could help
with this), and an estimate of costs to seal the envelope and keep the
house from falling over (without removing or damaging historical fabric
in the process).  I'd ask your CPA fund for 15%-20% more than the
resulting estimate, to give yourselves a contingency cushion--the
stabilization work may (inevitably) reveal some nasty surprises.  Rot in
the north wall is water getting in, mold, etc..  

 

The resulting Phase I CPA request, if successful, would give you time to
buy the house and make it dry and stable while you: 1) contract out the
Historic Structure Report, 2) explore the grant landscape, 3) develop a
permanent deed restriction, 4) research the full (and necessarily
fascinating) history of the house, and then 5) develop marketing for
this unique and critically important historic property for sale or rent.
Preservation magazine advertises historic homes for sale.

 

You can always sell the building (encumbered by the restriction) to
recover Randolph's costs if a pro forma on renting it and running it as
an historic house proves financially infeasible.

 

Phase II would involve a CPA funds in support of grant applications for
further restoration work, if the rental approach appears feasible.

 

Good Luck,

 

Jonathan Tucker

Planning Director

Town Hall, 4 Boltwood Ave.

Amherst, MA  01002

(413) 259-3040

(413) 259-2410 [fax]

tuckerj at amherstma.gov   

 

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Henry Cooke
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 4:44 PM
To: Skelly, Christopher @ SEC; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Possible Historic House Purchase in Randolph

 

Chris and all,

The Randolph Historical Commission was contacted last week on a bank
foreclosure sale of the oldest house in Randolph, constructed in 1726.
It is a center chimney cape, with original features from the initial
construction and two subsequent additions/renovations in 1778 and c1830.
The house was purchased about four years ago by a local builder who
balked at the cost of upgrades, and essentially sat on the house,
perhaps hoping to have it deteriorate to the point where it would need
to be torn down.  It has some condition concerns, like some rot in the
north wall that is causing some sidewall buckling and floor support
deterioration,  but much could be stabilized with the replacement of the
existing shingles  and repairs to parts of the roof that have
deteriorated from lack of maintenance.

Realtor handling the sale it trying to work with us to insure it either
goes to someone who will restore it or to the Town of Randolph. There is
possibility that the bank may write it off to the Town, but we can't
assume that will happen. Realtor is an old house buff, who is concerned
that the house will be purchased by a builder who will buy it to tear
down. Because the realtor is handling the sale for the bank. I would
imagine there are limits to what he can do to make sure it goes to the
"right" buyer. 

The Commission will be meeting this evening to visit the house and
discuss possibility of application for CPA funds to purchase the
property.  If the Commission gets the house, we would still have to
stabilize it, and restore it, and would have to find funding for that as
well.  If all this came to pass, our goal would be to eventually rent
the house to a tenant who could maintain the house and carry out part of
the restoration work, and open it periodically for historical tours.
Unfortunately, the Historical Society does not have deep pockets either.
If we were successful in getting CPA funding, could this be used as a
match for an MPPF grant application, or National Trust administered
grant?

In looking at all our options, are there other resources that are
available to commissions without a lengthy application process?  Looking
longer term, what other grants are available for restoration besides
those offered by National Trust and MHC?  

We would appreciate any advice or suggestions from those who have been
down this path.

Thanks
Henry Cooke
Chairman, 
Randolph Historical Commission

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20090406/5982b989/attachment.htm