The building at 45 Main St. in Bradford has started on the road
to revitalization.
On Monday, Sara Andrews, a member of the Downtown Bradford
Revitalization Corp., explained the building is back in that
agency’s hands and the process of bringing it back to life has
begun.
“The DBRC does have it back. That was settled about 10 days
ago,” she explained.
The building had been at the center of a struggle between the
DBRC and local businessman Roger Feura, who had purchased it with
plans to demolish it for a parking lot.
The matter went as far as litigation before the sides agreed to
settle their differences and Feura sold the building to the DBRC
for renovation. There were other stipulations in the settlement
agreement as well.
The settlement order, written by President Judge John Cleland,
states that Feura “will make a good-faith effort to contact those
who may have parts of the building that have been removed, in
particular, any decorative parts of the central staircase or the
iron gate.”
“I don’t think that’s happened,” Andrews said, adding none of
the original items from the building have been recovered. “There
was considerable damage to the building after the fire.”
A fire tore through the structure in 2004, causing about $50,000
in damage mostly to the rear of the structure.
“The fire-burned portion will have to come down,” she said.
“That’s beyond repair.
“We still feel it’s a viable building,” Andrews said, adding
that removing the damaged portion of the building will help create
a large parking lot for any business that should locate there in
the future.
“That’s part of the new building parking plan,” she explained.
“We know the parking facilities in the rear of the building are an
asset.”
She acknowledged that the project will not be an easy task, but
said the DBRC is still planning to move ahead with the
renovations.
The two-story front of the building is in good shape, she said,
and is able to be renovated.
“It’s part of the Main Street look,” she added. “We hope to see
it renovated within a short period of time.”
So far, steps have been taken to secure the building, Andrews
explained, and redevelopment officials have “taken a walk through …
to get an idea, to see what’s there.”
“We’re assessing what our next steps are with the building and
checking to see if we have any potential developers,” she said,
“and checking to see if we have any potential financing.
“Our first preference would be to find a private developer,”
Andrews said. “If something doesn’t work out, we would look at some
avenues with the state to move the (Main Street Mercantile) into
the building.”
She explained the Mercantile has been very successful in its
current Main Street location, and actually has more requests for
space than it has space available. Andrews credits Main Street
Manager Diane DeWalt with the co-op’s success.
“Diane has done a great job with the Mercantile. The Mercantile
has done very well,” Andrews said. “It’s a real asset to
downtown.”
