A plan to buy Barre’s most prominent vacant building has gotten an eleventh-hour extension of its fundraising goal — and a lowered sale price — after the nonprofit development corporation failed to meet its initial deadline.
The former JJ Newbury’s at 143 North Main St. has sat vacant since 2010. The nonprofit leading the fundraiser have called it the city’s “biggest eyesore.” Yet the owners, local real estate developers Jeff Jacobs and Steve Lewinstein, are looking for more than the assessed value of $325,800.
In January, the Barre Area Development Corporation launched a campaign to raise $1.1 million for a new offer and closing costs to finally purchase the building and tear it down. The city of Barre agreed to contribute $400,000 toward that fundraiser, despite some objections from residents and city councilors who said the money would be better spent toward the city’s other needs, like housing and flood mitigation.
The fundraiser’s initial deadline was set for June 11, the initial purchase option’s expiration date. Development corporation vice president Steve Mackenzie said as that deadline loomed, it had only raised between $600,000 and $700,000, so he approached the owners and asked if they would take that amount. “Long story short, the answer was no,” he said.
He then went back and asked if the owners would allow a 90-day extension and a lowered sale price of $800,000. That time, the answer was yes.
The development corporation now has until Sept. 9 to reach its revised fundraising total of $850,000, which includes closing costs. It has raised $730,000 so far, and Mackenzie said he was cautiously optimistic that it would hit the new target.
“It’s still no small challenge, but I think it’s doable,” he said. “We have a number of folks that I still need to contact, as do other board members. We know that there are people out there considering a pledge, they’re just deciding how much.”
He noted that the 15 directors of the development corporation have contributed a total of $75,000 toward the fundraiser. “We need to have skin in the game if we’re gonna go out and ask the public for money,” he said.
Mackenzie acknowledged the “hurdle” for many Barre residents is that they are paying owners who “sat on this for 15 years” and have allowed it to go downhill.
“I understand that, and the way I come at it is, the only way something good is going to happen with this property is that we have to get it out of the hands of the current owners,” he said.
What happens to the property if, and when, the sale goes through is still uncertain. The nonprofit has posted an artist’s rendering of its vision for the project on its website: an interim “green space” after the current building has been torn down and a longer-term concept to construct a large mixed-use multistory building on the site.
But Mackenzie said the nonprofit has not done any significant research or planning for those concepts yet.
“It’s hard to invest any substantial amount of time or effort or money into a property that you don’t own,” he said. “It’s a real risk to initiate that kind of planning and development process when you don’t know if you’ll get the property.”
The common consensus is that the current structure has deteriorated, Mackenzie said. A code inspection in December 2024 found that the building had significant damage from its years left vacant, with rotting floors and a hole in part of the roof, according to inspection documents. The inspectors also found the basement full of water, possibly from the 2023 or 2024 flooding.
Barre City Manager Nick Storellicastro said he is preparing a memorandum of understanding for the Aug. 5 City Council meeting to provide for the transfer of the property to city ownership if the sale is successful.
Storellicastro said the general plan was to begin an environmental study immediately. He cited the development of City Place down the street as a template — the site also spent years as a green space while the city created a development plan.
City Councilor Sonya Spaulding was one of the three councilors who voted against the city’s contribution, unsuccessfully, in December 2024. She said she still has many of the same objections.
“We’re putting in half the amount of money that needs to get raised, but there’s still no plan, no funding for remediation,” she said.
She, like many people in Barre, is excited to see the building finally get torn down. But she’s also concerned that the city will be asked to contribute further funds toward infrastructure and upgrades toward those long-term plans.
“We’re building this on the backs of taxpayers,” she said.
