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Leasing troubles for Watertown's branch libraries; new bidssought

By Laura Paine Wicked Local WatertownPosted Feb 17, 2011 @ 03:09 PM

WATERTOWN Leasing out Watertown’s branch libraries has been tough, but the town will take another

stab at garnering interest in the long-vacant buildings to organizations that would be willingto renovate them and bring them up to code.

The Former Branch Libraries Reuse Advisory Committee met on Feb. 16 to alter therequest for proposal (RFP) they had previously published for the properties, but some of thecommittee members were worried after the previous lack of interest.

Committee member Joe Previtera asked whether or not it would be more beneficial foreveryone if the town footed the bill for the renovation costs and then leased the buildings atmarket price.

“The point is that the town doesn’t have the money in the capital program to renovate this,so I don’t think that’s really appropriate at this time,” Piccirilli said. “This would not be veryattractive to the town.”

Town  Councilor  and  Co-Chair  Angie  Kounelis  said  she  doesn’t  understand  whybuildings are off the table for town use.

“We had the East Branch Library looked at as possible storage space and now the formerpolice station is being looked at as storage space and a Town [Hall] annex,” she said. “If thatstation is open to the community it has to be brought up to code. This committee doesn’tknow all the other issues going on.”

Instead, the committee looked at other ways they could make the contract appealing forpotential bidders. They agreed that one way would be to bring the deposit cost down from$2,000 to $1,000, which would make the contract more attractive to non-profit organizations.The deposit would be refundable if a proposal is not successful, or it would go toward thecost of the renovations.

“The reason we have it is to make sure people are serious about the proposals they submit,”Town Councilor and Co-Chair Vinnie Piccirilli said. “For the type of proposal we are lookingfor, $2,000 might be a little too much.”

Another concerns the committee shared is whether the RFP made it clear to potentialbidders that a full plan of use is not necessary to place a bid and a narrative would suffice.

Planning Director Steve Magoon said he would edit the RFP to make this more clear andalso said it is important to make sure that bidders wouldn’t be over their heads in renovationcosts.

“We don’t want to scare off an organization likely to bid, but on the other hand, I think wereally want to try to avoid having a bidder bid way over their head and not be able to do whatthey think they’re going to do,” Magoon said.

The committee has put an emphasis on community-oriented uses and projects that fitwithin the framework of the sites’ limited zoning options for the two branches.

The North Branch is at 263 Orchard St.; the East Branch at 481 Mt. Auburn St. The NorthBranch  library  is  zoned  for  open  space/conservancy  and  can  only  be  used  foeducational, day care or religious uses, as well as agricultural and some municipal uses,without a special permit. The East End branch can be used for some residential and nonprofituses, but almost no commercial uses.

A question-and answer-session about the buildings and the process would be held 15 daysafter the bid is published.

The bidding period will last 60 days instead of the original 30-day period.Committee member Rena Baskin suggested that organizations could go into leasing and

renovating the buildings as joint venture.“It might be wise to add an addendum of the many different ways organizations can

approach this if they wish to partner with another organization or have a parent organizationthat can help them do it,” Baskin said.

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In order for two organizations to rent together, Piccirilli said one entity can decide to takethe lead and create a contract with the second organization as tenant, or they can become athird legal entity to rent the building together.

“The town would encourage anyone interested to submit a reasonable bid,” he said. “We arereally encouraging organizations to submit proposals.”

The RFP is expected to be published in early March and anyone interested in placing a bidshould call the Watertown Planning Board at (617) 972 6417.

 Laura Paine can be reached at lpaine@cnc.com.Copyright 2011 Watertown TAB & Press. Some rights reserved