AMHERST — Possible demolition of two downtown Amherst buildings to make way for a new mixed-use development, is being temporarily halted by the Amherst Historical Commission.
Using the town’s demolition delay bylaw, the commission voted unanimously Thursday to place a six-month pause on plans submitted by developer Barry Roberts to raze or remove a two-story wooden building at 55 South Pleasant St. and to tear down a three-story, brick ell behind 45 South Pleasant St., the former A.J. Hastings store.
“Both of these buildings are deemed historically significant, so that is why we’re here,” Senior Planner Nate Malloy told the commission.
Roberts will have an opportunity to seek expedited permission to move forward with demolition, though the commission is seeking better historical documentation of both buildings. Malloy said the delay will allow for more information and documentation to be obtained, and more time to determine whether there is potential to reuse or salvage the buildings. The former Hastings building — although not the ell— is being planned for reuse, with retail space as an Amherst College store on the first floor, and apartments on the upper levels.
The 55 South Pleasant building, most recently the home of Red Door Salon before that business moved to lower Main Street, for many years served as the home of Kamins Real Estate and Jeffery Amherst Bookshop. It is part of the Amherst business historic district included in the National Register of Historic Places.
While the building has undergone changes over the years, including the addition of a second story in the 1910s and the addition of a peaked roof in the 1970s, it is likely one of the two oldest buildings downtown, possibly dating to the early 1800s, Malloy said.
“Buildings can change, and this one has,” Malloy said. “But it has been part of the streetscape for almost 200 years.”
Thomas Reidy, an attorney with Bacon Wilson, noted that Roberts has moved three different homes in recent years, and rehabbed the Amherst Cinema building. “If there’s an opportunity save and reuse, he does it,” Reidy said.
Preserving the buildings meaningfully, though, doesn’t appear possible, he said. “We did really give it a good effort to preserve them,” Reidy said. “That wood building is not ADA compliant, [and] where it sits in relation to the Hastings building wouldn’t allow redevelopment.”
An advertisement on Craigslist gives people the opportunity to take the building away, in whole or in part. “I would find it hard for someone to pick it up and move it somewhere, to be honest with you,” Reidy said.
Initially, Robin Fordham, who chairs the commission, moved to allow immediate demolition of 55 South Pleasant, but was joined in the vote only by commission member Mikayla Rasnic.
“To me, it looks like an issue of if we’re talking about preferably preserved it’s really lost a lot of its physical integrity,” Fordham said.
Commission member Hetty Startup, though, said the building is a “groovy, funky, vernacular structure,” that is anomalous to downtown, and intriguing to her as a historian.
The look of the streetscape from the Town Common and Town Hall would also change, said commission member Antonia Brillembourg. “It has maintained this unique scale,” Brillembourg said.
“I’m not opposed to a vision for the future, but I would like that building documented more fully,” said commission member Pat Auth.
There was less discussion about removing the ell, with Fordham observing that the brick building maintains its integrity and association with a dry grocer and other businesses that had been located in the building in front. “There’s a sense of history going on in that area,” Fordham said.
Sharon Povinelli, who co-owned Hastings, said it is gut-wrenching to consider taking down the ell, but is for the best for future development. “I can tell you that there’s a big part of me that speaks to that building,” Povinelli said.
