A buyer for the Odd Fellows building on Main Street has emerged, and he promises to do right by the 125-year-old structure.
Nate Burrington, owner of Burrington Builders, said he enjoyed the historical aspect of the building growing up in Warner, but it wasn’t until he saw the view of the town from the third floor that he decided to pursue purchasing it.
The structure has been unused since its last owner died in 1998, and a series of contractors have shied away from finalizing purchase agreements with the town since 2000. Rebecca Courser, who sponsored a petition warrant article directing the select board to construct a plan to tear the building down by 2018, has said she fears no one will ever follow through on plans to renovate the building and that it’s a safety hazard in the meantime.
Burrington said he understands why Courser would be wary of seeing prospective buyers come and go and how the building, which has lead contamination and asbestos, could be seen as unsafe. But he feels those other buyers approached the project the wrong way.
“I think the others went about it the wrong way – they wanted to make a certain amount of money off it,” he said after the first of two public hearings on the sale of the building. “… They wanted to throw $2 million at it and make a profit in 20 years, but it’s not about that for me. It’s more about love than profit.”
Others at the public hearing also seemed optimistic about Barrington’s chances at restoring the building. David Karrick, a former members of the Odd Fellows Building Committee, said he felt Barrington was more invested in the project than previous buyers.
“There were a lot of people with grand schemes who I think had no real intention of doing the work themselves,” he said. “This is a more hands-on proposal, which is different.”
Burrington also said his taking over the building would relieve the town of having to pay for its destruction, which town administrator Jim Bingham estimated would cost about $100,000 and possibly more if the building’s lead levels or other contaminants were too high.
The next public hearing on the building’s sale will be on March 1. The town hopes to have an agreement with Burrington by town meeting on March 15.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)