CHARLEMONT — Charlotte Dewey, longtime owner of the Charlemont Inn, lost control of the property Friday when the Franklin County Housing Court appointed a receiver, Byron Gilchrest of Charlemont, to have purview over the long-vacant building.
The court granted Gilchrest 90 days to create a plan to bring the inn up to code. The building was condemned in 2015 after the Board of Health found it to be in violation of sanitary and safety standards.
The next Housing Court hearing is scheduled Nov. 15.
Gilchrest has owned a home in Charlemont for 44 years, living in the town “off and on,” he said outside the courtroom Friday afternoon. He is president and owner of the Boston real-estate development firm Gilchrest Associates.
Asked why he wanted to assume responsibility for the inn, Gilchrest said he learned the building was in trouble and wanted to help revive it.
“I made a few inquiries as to the status because it’s been vacant for 10 years,” Gilchrest said. “I started hearing people say that the judge may order it be demolished … I thought, ‘God, that’s horrible.’”
The inn’s historic value also played a role in his decision, he said.
“The building was built in 1775, before the country was formed,” Gilchrest said. “So it really is a remarkable historic building, and right in the center of town.”
Gilchrest said he would “take a shot” at “finding some way to save it.” He intends to go beyond the court’s initial requirement — to repair the inn so that it adheres to health and safety regulations — and “totally rehab the building.” He will present this plan to the court at the November hearing, he said.
“If the court approves it, I will begin doing some serious things like partial demolition,” Gilchrest said. “To figure out some things like what’s where and what needs to be done.”
If he acquires the building when it is eventually auctioned, Gilchrest said he plans to reopen the inn as a bar, restaurant and small hotel, with 12 rooms upstairs for guests. He said he does not plan to manage operations, though, because he is “basically retired.”
“I just want to get it back in operational use and sell it to somebody who wants to own it or find a manager for it,” Gilchrest said.
The inn has since been in and out of Housing Court for four years, Town Counsel Jeffrey Blake said, with the owner, Dewey, granted multiple extensions to repair the property and lift its condemnation order.
During these years, Dewey did not bring the building to code according to various agreements made in court, Blake said. Although she made some repairs, they did not comply with what was agreed upon, he said.
“We went back and forth for four years, trying to get her to bring it up to code,” Blake said. “You saw the culmination of an awful lot of hard work by the Board of Health.”
The health board continued to bring Dewey to court because it saw the building as a safety risk, Co-Chair Doug Telling said.
Glen Ayers, a former health agent at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments who has inspected the property several times over the years, agreed, describing the property as a health and safety hazard.
“My concern at the time was that the property was abandoned and in a state of rapid deterioration,” Ayers said. “It had a leaking roof, there was no heat. It was in steep decline.”
Ayers pointed out that the inn was also at risk of fire, due to aging electrical wires and a faulty alarm system.
Blake added that abandoned buildings attract people who inhabit them illegally.
Outside the courtroom, Dewey expressed some melancholy about relinquishing control of a building she’d owned since 1993. She conceded that she was “glad somebody has stepped forward” to salvage the property. And all hope isn’t lost yet, she added, explaining that she has two parties who have expressed interest about investing money in the building to help her buy it back.
“I at least feel a sense of, maybe, happiness, that finally some townspeople and Byron have truly decided that the inn is worth saving,” Dewey said. “That’s all I’ve been trying to do.”
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.