ATHOL — Two vacant buildings that are currently under renovation will receive state support through the Community One Stop for Growth program.
The building at 25 Exchange St., commonly referred to as the Maroni building, is in the midst of a major makeover. Joshua Therrien of Prestige Property Management in Gardner recently received a $500,000 Underutilized Properties Grant via the Community One Stop for Growth program.
According to an adaptive reuse study done for the town in 2011, the building was constructed in 1874 and served as the Kendall Boot Factory until 1887.
“It then changed hands a number of times, but was primarily used as a furniture store until it was purchased in 2004 by the Athol Real Estate Exchange LLC,” the report states. “It was finally transferred to the town of Athol in 2008 for nonpayment of taxes.”
It was sold at auction in 2016 and changed hands again until it was purchased by Prestige Property Management in 2023. Therrien said the property will be developed into 14 apartments with two commercial office spaces in the front.
“The [grant] money is being used to be able to do that,” he added. “It will be used for the electrical system, heating system, plumbing system to be able to be installed in the building.
“Currently, we’re finishing the structural repairs,” he continued. “Within the next four or five weeks we’ll have the majority of that done. We’re doing Phase 1 as we speak and Phase 2 will start next week, I believe, which is to finish demo of the back part of the building; we’re going to rebuild the footings.”
Therrien said asbestos remediation was done before any demolition work began.
Including the $500,000 grant, Therrien said the total cost of the project will be $1.7 million to $1.8 million. The apartments, he said, are going to be a mix, with a few for low-income tenants and the rest market-rate. He hopes to have the project completed by next summer.
Pleasant Street School
LaunchSpace’s effort to transform the former Pleasant Street School in Athol into a multipurpose makerspace and business incubator received a $249,000 boost from the Community One Stop for Growth program.
LaunchSpace co-founder and CEO Brianna Drohen said the money will go toward design work for the next phase of the school renovation. This will include the overall schematic design for the building and the construction design of the commercial kitchen.
Additional funds from the Rural Development Fund — which falls under the Community One Stop for Growth umbrella — will cover the design work for the roof and interior construction of the next phase, which will include the community event space, instructional classroom, administrative and consulting offices, and bathrooms.
“LaunchSpace is focused on community economic development through shared spaces and programs,” Drohen said. “We developed a makerspace in Orange, which has lots of programs going through it — memberships, classes, youth workforce programs, mobile makerspace, social prescription and some other youth programs.”
She said the plan is to redevelop the auditorium into a multipurpose event space, and have the entryway be used to sell products that are made through LaunchSpace. There will also be a shipping room, a classroom for adult education and youth programs run through the kitchen. Existing classrooms will be renovated into child care and independent business incubation space.
When work at the former elementary school is completed, the facility will be, according to the LaunchSpace website, “a shared-use space for food producers, processors and other community members through the creation of a shared-use cloud kitchen and community garden, small-scale agricultural plots and child care facilities, along with renovating the classrooms into small business incubation studios for local artists and entrepreneurs.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.