RED HOOK >> Town officials are at a loss for how to revitalize and reuse the historic St. Margaret’s Home on U.S. Route 9 that was donated for community use nine years ago.
Councilman William O’Neill said a new committee may be needed to develop a plan for the 163-year-old building.
“We need a new committee or something,” O’Neill said at a recent Town Board meeting. “I just think it’s bottomed out – the creativity or the energy to think of some use for the building.”
Officials said the death in February of the existing committee’s chairman, Paul Fredricks, left a void in direction
In a recent letter, St. Margaret’s Committee members wrote that remaining members were seeking direction from town officials. They noted a survey conducted last year found there is support for a wide range of uses but that the committee could not settle on a recommendation until it was determined where financial support would come from.
Among proposals from the committee are using the building as a senior assistance and information center, renting space to not-for-profit organizations, housing historic archives and creating a youth center or a gallery for local artists.
“We have opened it for summer use,” said town Supervisor Sue Crane said, noting the site’s use for children’s activities and a concert.
The building and 2 acres of land were donated by Martin’s Food when the company built the Hannaford supermarket nearby. The house was built in 1852 by Margaret Armstrong Astor as a facility for homeless and orphaned girls, and it remained in operation into the 1930s. It later was a welfare facility, private home and a transitional living facility until closing in the 1990s.
Crane said a $95,000 state grant secured by former Sen. Stephen Saland was used to stabilize the building’s roof but that other funding did not cover the cost of other needed repairs.
Crane said there a business plan need to be developed for the building that does not rely on donations from the community.
“The problem with fund-raising today is everyone’s doing it,” she said. “Number two … there’s so many important buildings, it’s overwhelming.”
Councilman Harry Colgan said the amount of money needed for repairs makes it difficult to have the town continue ownership.
“I don’t see how we can get the funds from the taxpayers to move forward with this,” he said. “We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of expense left before that is a habitable property, and where we can get the money to do that I just don’t know. It seems to me that it probably should be owned by a not-for-profit organization who could move forward with an appropriate use.”
