Wilder
He hopes to use the second property to solve a nagging parking issue that has prevented him from selling the Wilder Center.
“There’s no question that parking was our Achilles’ heel,” Clem said on Monday of the Wilder Center, an 1890 church building that he purchased in 2009 and renovated into an events facility that can hold up to 205 people.
In two weeks, the Hartford Planning Commission will consider Clem’s plans to demolish two small outbuildings, a handicap ramp and a porch at 2072 Hartford Ave., which is located behind a black iron fence on a 27,000-square-foot lot across Route 5.
The property, known as “The Double House,” was listed in 1999 as a contributing building to the Wilder Village Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
When Clem bought the Wilder Center for $57,000 in 2009, the Hartford Planning Commission initially required that he include plans for 31 parking spaces, but granted him an exemption when it became clear that he was only able to fit 16 on the site.
In the short term Datamann, a software and consulting company, has allowed Clem to use its nearby Hartford Avenue location for overflow parking, but the parking deficit has dogged operations ever since.
He said efforts to sell the Wilder Center have been hamstrung by the fact that he couldn’t guarantee adequate parking to any potential buyer.
And the problem is only expected to become more intense as the town moves forward with plans to add curbs and sidewalk to nearby Gillette Street, which would further tighten parking options in the neighborhood.
Clem’s plans for the Double House, which he bought from Regina and Roger Murray in June 2016 for $153,750, include adding about 45 new parking spaces, an amount that should more than satisfy the town’s requirements and, Clem hopes, make it more appealing to an outside buyer.
“We don’t have a broker for the property. We haven’t listed the property,” Clem said. “We’ve had a couple of nonprofits approach us. Once we get all of our ducks in a row and get the parking issue resolved, then we’ll actively seek a purchaser.”
He said that while the purchaser doesn’t have to be a nonprofit, that’s what he would hope for.
“A music group, or a performing arts group, or an adult education group — I could see how they could use that facility to carry on their objectives,” he said.
Clem’s site development plan, which refers to “office and school space,” is on the agenda of the Planning Commission’s next scheduled meeting, at 6 p.m. on Aug. 14 at Town Hall.
Clem hopes that the 12-room, 2,100-square-foot Double House also will give groups greater flexibility in meeting spaces. The Wilder Center is dominated by an auditorium space, but Clem said the Double House will allow for smaller groups of eight or 10 people.
The building has two floors, a basement and unfinished attic space. Clem said one floor will serve as office space, which would allow a nonprofit to locate its administrative functions on the site.
When the Double House was built in 1900, it was in the midst of a residential housing boom sparked by the Olcott Falls Co., also known as the Wilder Paper Mill, which was built in 1883 and shut down in 1927 due to a worker strike.
The Double House is characterized by the period’s architectural flourishes, which include a wood-shingled base, side gables and a protruding porch supported by exterior columns.
According to a property description on the Historic Registry, the land has changed hands several times over the past 108 years — from Charles and Susan Kinsman to Laura Smith in 1909, to Leon Weeks in 1924, to Leon and Grace Chayer in 1938, to Jason and Yvonne Johnson in 1951, to Ray and Patricia Cross in 1962, to Loretta and Robert Fisher, to the Murrays in 1974.
As it has passed through all those hands, the building has accumulated a variety of add-ons, including aluminum siding, an accessibility ramp, a garage and two outbuildings.
In June, Town Planner Matt Osborn told the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission that the building was in “bad shape,” as he informed them of Clem’s plans to remove the front porch and accessibility ramp.
Commission members raised no objections, according to meeting minutes.
Clem also plans to demolish two small outbuildings to make way for the parking lots, though he said he’s motivated to preserve the building’s historical features, as well as several mature trees on the site.
Selling the two properties, Clem said, would serve his ultimate goal to preserve the buildings and allow them to last for another 125 years.
“I’ve done what I want to accomplish,” he said. “Hopefully, I can complete the final chapter.”
Clem declined to name his asking price for the two Wilder properties, in part, he said, because the Planning Commission could impose requirements that will affect the cost and value.
The Wilder Center property currently is appraised at $319,000, while 2072 Hartford Ave. is appraised at $158,300.
Clem, who is working on the mixed-use River Park development between Route 10 and the Connecticut River in West Lebanon, also is seeking to sell the old West Lebanon Library and a former commercial property along Route 5 north of dowtown Norwich.
In Wilder, Clem said, he will move forward with the demolition and cosmetic repairs if and when he receives approval, but will wait until a buyer is identified before considering extensive interior renovations or reconfigurations.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com.