by Geoff Fox
An architect who presented an idea for the town’s current Public Works building at 317 and 319 East Main Street brought a more detailed look and renderings before town officials during the February town meeting.
This was the first town meeting of 2024 as the January town meeting was canceled due to weather.
Bruno Reich had previously come before town officials during the October town meeting, looking to invest in the property and give an idea of what he was looking to do with the old industrial structure.
He brought a number of pictures, including a mock up of what the future of 317 and 319 could possibly look like, and handed them out to town officials and the press.
Reich has purchased the Masonic building. Plans have already been made for renovations inside and additional apartments upstairs.
Reich sees the east end of town as the “new end of town” and compared it to what happened to Middletown.
“The east end of Middletown has all the new development outside of the historic district,” he said adding there are new shopping centers, offices, and residential areas in that part of Middletown, located west of Frederick.
The historic core of Middletown, he said, has been preserved and renovated with economical development and architectural guidelines.
In Hancock, with new development in the Blue Goose, BFS travel plaza, and Burger King, Reich said it would make more sense to turn the old packing house into more retail spaces, drawing more people off the interstate and into the historic part of town and retail there.
Reich is looking to purchase the former packing shed with an offer of $350,000.
Reich said the building has the advantage of having the rail trail behind it and Main Street on its front. It also has a “nice long front on it” and the construction is solid.
Reich said he wanted to make use of the front-loading doors and open it up a little more.
There could be something added between the building and Main Street that would add life to the space. Both sides of the building have a lot of space for parking, he added.
Reich envisions landscaping and tables added around the building, and a garden on the flat roof.
A short-term rental could be added in a second building, he added.
“Anyway, that’s the concept,” Reich said.
There would be a period of study with a laser scan of the building done and a floor plan done, possible tenants recruited and found to fill 60% of the area.
“If I had those in my pocket, letters of intent in my pocket, I could go to the bank and ask them for $2 million to come in and renovate,” Reich said.
Reich said the building has a nice concrete shell. It needs electrical work, a sprinkler system, HVAC system, some structural work, and some wall repairs.
In a feasibility period, there would be the need to find the tenants for future businesses at the location. There’s also the issue of low rent.
“You’re just not going to get a lot of rent in Hancock right now,” Reich said.
He said as town gets more traffic and things get renovated, the rent goes up.
Jackie Daley, who is working with Reich, noted the town is an opportunity zone and there are monies available from grants to help those businesses come to Hancock. In a development concept rendering which Reich showed town officials and shared with The Hancock News, drawings show a number of storefronts lining the building with a possible inn and restaurant facing Main Street and two terraces with trees on the roof. There would also be tables set up in front of the stores and parking on the side of the building, which would be between CNB and the current building.
Town Manager Mike Faith wanted to make sure the rendering was only the yellow building and didn’t include the old State Highway Building next to it.
Reich confirmed it was just the yellow building. Faith said the town hadn’t declared the old State Highway Building surplus property yet.
During the public meeting, Faith, Reich, and Daley started discussing the possible contract to sell the 317 and 319 East Main Street property.
The offer already submitted to town officials was $350,000. Reich said he’s already invested $30,000 in preparing presentations for town officials.
Currently, the town is using the basement for their Public Works building, however, there is nowhere for Public Works to move should a deal be made.
Faith said there is a location already selected for a new Public Works building, but the town is in the beginning stages of the process.
Councilman David Kerns said that process could take six to eight months.
Faith said the idea was for the money to do the Public Works building was to come from the sale of the yellow building.
The town could lease the building from Reich while a new Public Works building was secured, Daley suggested.
Town Attorney Ed Kuczynski said if a contract were to be agreed upon, the town would need to pass another ordinance to accept the contract. However, there would be no need for a public hearing.
There had already been a negotiation for the building and it fell through, Kuczynski said, but there is a viable buyer in Reich.
Reich said he’d need at least 90 days for a feasibility period, which was in the original proposal.
Town officials did not make an agreement on the contract at the February meeting, however they could do so at the March meeting.
By waiting until the next town meeting, Kuczynski said if the town comes to the basic terms, the town could get the final details for the contract for approval.
