GREENFIELD — Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, with the support of City Council, plans to submit a proposal to the state regarding the potential use of the former National Guard Armory for housing.
Given that the armory on Hope Street has been declared surplus property by the National Guard, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) has reached out to gauge the interest of Greenfield officials in having the property turned over to the city, rather than put on the open market.
“I have to respond as to how I would like to see it disposed of,” Wedegartner told City Council at a meeting Wednesday night. “I will tell you that I am interested — as the city of Greenfield — in that property, as I have been for quite some time, for housing.”
Wedegartner has by Monday, June 28, to respond to the state’s request. She told councilors she plans to do so “positively” — indicating to DCAMM an interest in the property for a mixed-use retail-housing project.
“I do think that’s a very good property for us, and it’s situated in our downtown corridor,” Wedegartner said. “We want to encourage more housing down there.”
If DCAMM does turn the building over to the city, Wedegartner expects the next step would be to return to City Council, at which point the property would either be put up for auction or the city would put out a request for proposals.
Speaking with the mayor Wednesday night was Tom Guerino, executive director of the Greenfield Housing Authority.
“A mixed use, with mixed house — market rate, workforce, affordable — with commercial entities makes a lot of sense,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure we’re in tandem with what the city wants. We want to work … together.”
Councilors indicated support for the mayor’s interest in the property, though some said they would prefer to see the building used solely for housing.
“We do know there are a lot of low-income people without housing altogether,” said Precinct 8 Councilor Douglas Mayo, noting that it made more sense to him for the project to be exclusively low-cost housing, rather than mixing it with market-rate housing. “You’re right, it does fit well with Greenfield’s area in terms of shopping, but to have shops in there — if you look at Main Street, there’s plenty of open shops there to choose from. I think what we need is low-cost housing.”
Precinct 2 Councilor Daniel Guin asked how likely it would be to find private investors for development.
“I’m very excited that this is coming up, but I, too, believe we have to figure out how quickly we can get it into private hands and funded by the private sector,” he said. “I’d love to see it turned into housing … I just want to make sure we’re not footing the bill and that someone can make money.”
Guin added that there are some “great landlords” locally in the private sector.
“It’s not my intention to own this building,” Wedegartner said. “The city has said many times it is not interested in being a landlord; they want to facilitate that to happen.”
Guerino added that, with the “pools of money” for housing coming out at the state and federal levels, in addition to tax incentives for historic preservation, there will be people interested in the property.
“However the city — the mayor and council — decide to go,” Guerino said, “there will be private investors that are very interested in doing this.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne