Belmont bank property still for sale

Five months after citizens learned that residents Tony and Loretta Brown were willing to sell their commercial property opposite the Town Hall building to the town for $300,000, the lot is still on the market — although at a higher asking price.

An agent with Prudential Spencer-Hughes Real Estate, the principle listing agent for the .69-acre lot and its 2,900-square-foot commercial building, said recently that the Browns are now asking $329,900 for the property — or about 11-percent more than what they wanted from the town. The Browns were unavailable for comment on the matter.

In October, the Browns, who said they love their hometown and are active volunteers in local schools, said they wanted to sell the 155 Main Street property and use the money to help pay for college for their children as the couple is moving into a new stage in their lives.

Tony Brown said he was aware of the need for new town facilities sometime in the future and he and his wife was willing to sell the property at slightly below current market value in exchange for letting the town have it and completing the sale quickly.

When the offer was made, town leaders were excited about the idea and talked ambitiously about using the property to help create a “community campus” of municipal facilities in the village, which would then serve as a catalyst for economic revival in the neighborhood. Selectboard Chairman Ron Cormier said there was enough money in a capital reserve account to allow the board to make the deal without a Town Meeting vote.

But former selectman George Condodemetraky gathered enough signatures on a petition to require Town Meeting approval. He claimed that the town was paying too much for the land and that it might be gotten cheaper through some negotiations.

At a special Town Meeting at Belmont High School in January, the purchase plan failed to pass by nine votes.

The Prudential Spencer-Hughes Real Estate contact said last week that there are still two commercial tenants in the building — a hair salon and a message operation — with active leases. There’s also another 1,000-square-feet of space available in the front of the building, where several banks once operated small branch offices, most recently Northway.

The brick building is heated by oil, has more than 20 parking spaces and an annual property tax bill of $6,223, according to the real estate agent. The net income from the property is currently $6,223 and owner financing is available.

Before his recent re-election to the Selectboard, Cormier said he did not think that town residents were willing to support any kind of municipal facility improvements at this time, despite what he considered the obvious needs. He cited the failure of the bank building vote as well as the defeat of a proposal to accept free land for a new police station and a plan to build a new police station in the last year as proof of his conclusion.