UNITY — Renovations to a downtown Claremont building that would house former inmates convicted of drug offenses and others in need of a sober setting likely would cost more than $2 million, an architect hired told the County Commissioners on Monday.
Architect Jay Barrett of Barrett Architects in White River Junction said the building at 19 Sullivan St. — just off Opera House Square — is structurally sound with steel and heavy timber framing, but costs, including fees, for projects such as the one proposed can add up quickly.
“I can tell you this is not a $1 million to $2 million project,” Barrett said, emphasizing he will need to further refine his estimates. “It will be between $2 million and $2.5 million.”
Following Barrett’s presentation, which included drawings of the interior of the building’s three floors, the commissioners approved an application for a federal Community Development Block Grant up to $500,000.
County Manager Derek Ferland said the county must prove there is sufficient funding to complete the project from other sources before the grant can be approved.
Those other sources would include $500,000 in the county budget for the transitional housing, and the county also will seek funding from the New Hampshire Housing Authority.
Additionally, Ferland said, Claremont Savings Bank has pledged a loan equal to 80 percent of the post-renovation appraised value of the building, which was built in 1930 and is known as the former Eagle Times building. Other possible sources include New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and United States Department Agriculture, Ferland said.
“The opportunity is there to knock down the debt with other sources,” Ferland.
Ferland said they are looking to renovate the interior for about 30 beds for males and females on two floors with office space for an on-site recovery coach, corrections staff and maybe probation and parole offices, which are now on Water Street.
“The building adapts well to the program needs,” Barrett said in his presentation to the commissioners.
He said there is about 4,000 square feet on each floor or 12,000 total square feet. The top two floors would have dormitory style housing and the bottom floor would be for the kitchen, dining room, office space and possible community room.
Soundly built and well maintained with a sprinkler system and fire-rated stairwells, Barrett said the amount of demolition needed would be “minimal.”
“You will not be throwing out a lot of what you are buying,” Barrett told the commissioners, referring to the purchase and sale agreement the county has on the property, which includes a third of an acre with parking.
The main work on the exterior would be window replacement and repainting of the brick, Barrett said.
The county has been searching for a location for a few years where inmates who have completed drug treatment programs and served their sentences would have a place to live and access to services as they transition back to society. The lack of housing for these individuals or housing that is the same place they got them into trouble in the first place are seen as the biggest obstacles to avoiding a relapse.
County officials have said about 43 percent of inmates who successfully complete the Transitional Reentry and Inmate Life Skills Program at the Sullivan County House of Correction have either “unstable or no stable” living arrangements.
Commissioner Ben Nelson said the population but could also include others in treatment programs in need of sober housing.
The facility would have a corrections officer on staff 40 hours a week.
The county will learn if it receives the CDBG in November.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.
