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The state Historic Preservation Office approved the 88 Main facade design recently.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- Speed bumps conquered for the present, the 88 Main Street may look more like its revitalized downtown neighbors by spring.
The project at the building at the center of downtown Putnam was awarded a $400,000 state Urban Act Grant last December. The grant could not be released until the facade design was OK'd by the state Historic Preservation Office. The first facade design included French doors which that office did not think fit with the historical integrity of the 1850s building.
Another facade design was submitted and that was OK'd in late September.
Delpha Very, Community and Economic Development director, said the town and the building owner are moving forward with architectural reviews, bidding specs, inspections and more.
She added that the work can be done through the wintertime.
Bruce Dexter II, of Dexter Properties LLC, the owner of the property, said he's met with an architect and they are "checking that they follow criteria to a 't'," to create the project specs to be put out for bid.
Dexter said the masonry demolition work and masonry and window work will be tackled first. He said the whole exterior will come down, leaving the rough framing and then structural changes would be made. He said a new substrate would be put up and then the structure would be rebricked. He said they would use new brick that matches and size and color of the existing brick. The process would take about six months.
He said plans call for retail space and a restaurant on the Main Street level, a lounge related to the restaurant in the lower level and boutique hotel rooms on the top two floors.
The upside of the months and months it took to get the grant completely OK'd is that prices on the work have dropped so "more bang for the buck" is possible.
Very said with the reduction in staffing at the community and economic development offices, her office is working on finding personnel to do the environmental reviews, overseeing the project, doing the specs and more. "We are fast tracking this as much as possible," she said. The project had "setbacks" with state approvals and redevelopment staffing, she added.
"The goal is to get this architectural treasure restored to its fullest potential," she said. It also gets a blighted building back on the tax rolls, she added.