HADLEY — Several years after town officials began soliciting private developers interested in reusing the North Hadley Village Hall, the historic town building has finally been sold.
Town Administrator Carolyn Brennan on Thursday handed over the keys to the 239 River Drive building to Joe and Michelle Boisvert, who run the North Hadley Sugar Shack, and Rick and Michelle Bramucci, who operate Bramucci Construction.
The completed sale, finalized at the Hampshire Registry of Deeds after the Select Board last May voted 5-0 to accept an $80,000 bid from the Boisverts and Bramuccis, will allow the Hadley residents to begin moving forward with a redevelopment plan.
Select Board Chairman David J. Fill II said the work that will be done on the building will depend on various approvals from municipal boards.
The proposal the new owners submitted includes converting the garage bays, previously used by the town’s fire department before moving to a new substation, into a place for storing and maintaining equipment and vehicles. Plans also call for adding a small addition for office space for the construction company.
The remainder of the 1864 building, constructed as a schoolhouse and later used as space by the Park and Recreation Department and for a branch library, would be converted into high-end apartments. There would also be development of 12 parking spaces, mostly on the north side of the building.
With permission from the Legislature lifting a protection on the hall’s ballfield under the state Constitution, the Boisverts and Bramuccis have more flexibility in what can be done with that greenspace, though they have pledged to keep it mostly intact.
The transaction had been held up by a Hampshire Superior Court lawsuit filed last April by Peter Heronemus of Mount Warner Road. Heronemus claimed he already had a binding deal to turn the upper floor into three apartments and the lower level into community and concert space, and the 1950s-era garage was to become his personal workshop.
In mid-February, the Select Board and Finance Committee both voted to transfer $35,000 from the reserve fund as part of a deal that was struck with Heronemus, and shortly after that decision the lawsuit was dismissed, with prejudice, meaning the case has ended and can’t be refiled.
Amy Gates of Amherst, who would have created a concert series and other events at the building in the Heronemus venture, said Thursday that, in the end, the town lost out on a wonderful plan, and also spent significant sums of money to resolve the lawsuit.
Town Meeting in October 2014 first authorized the town to sell the property, and earlier concepts for private development had included turning the building into apartments, though the protected ballfield had limited options for parking.
