The Hopkinton Select Board has granted a five-year tax relief to local developer, Brian Cressy, who is investing over $2 million to restore the building that once housed the Contoocook Covered Bridge Restaurant.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the select board backed the project, noting it will boost the town’s economic growth and foster a stronger sense of community as Cressy plans to transform the building on 16 Cedar St. in Contoocook, into a tavern.

“He’s putting in 10 times the current value of the building,” Jeffrey Donohoe, a select board member, said during the meeting about Cressy’s project. “That’s a significant investment. It is what we’re looking for downtown.”

The tax relief incentive is aimed at encouraging property owners to invest in aging or underutilized buildings and will freeze the building’s assessed value for a period of time if it meets certain criteria.

For Cressy, this means his property taxes will stay the same for five years after the renovations are completed, despite the significant increase in the building’s value.

During the public hearing, Hopkinton resident Renee Carey expressed her appreciation for Cressy’s efforts to restore the iconic building but voiced concerns about how the tax relief incentive might impact residents.

“I’m just a little bit worried about people in town who are already feeling the result of the recent reassessments, and who may be feeling like the burden is getting greater and greater and greater,” said Carey. “So I think it’s going to be a public relations kind of marketing thing for Brian and the restaurant and for the board to go back to the town and say, here’s why we did this.”

Members of the select board clarified that the tax relief granted to Cressy won’t be a burden for other residents; it simply means that while taxes won’t increase due to this investment, they also won’t decrease.

Local business owner Alyssa McKeon, who runs Witching Hour Provisions, a refill store just steps away from the future tavern, welcomed the addition. She believes it will not only benefit local business owners by attracting more shoppers but also provide residents with another dining option.

“We’ve seen authentic growth in the village as more businesses have opened,” said McKeon.

While the opening date for the tavern, which will feature a patio overlooking the Contoocook River, has not yet been established, Cressy is also optimistic about the tavern’s ability to attract more visitors to the village.

“I think we’re going to see a lot of people from town come down because of this, and possibly walking around, shopping at the local shops,” said Cressy. “I think it’s going to draw people off the highway.”

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com