Public hearing set for Busiel House, former Holy Trinity building

LACONIA — The public will have an opportunity to comment on the city’s plans to look for buyers for the former St. Joseph Parish rectory and Holy Trinity School.

The City Council on Monday voted to schedule a public hearing during the next council meeting on Monday, Nov. 23, on the city’s plan to declare the Busiel House and the school building surplus property, a necessary first step before the city can put any city-owned property on the market.

The city purchased the properties from the Diocese of Manchester on Oct. 26 for $1,140,000.

Besides the historic Busiel House and the school building, the purchase also included a parking lot with 85 parking spaces.

St. Joseph Church, which is located between the two buildings, was not part of the purchase.

The city plans to put the Busiel House on the market as soon as possible and to use the money from the sale of the 155-year-old Second Empire-style building to recoup some of the $1.1 million the city paid for the overall property.

The Busiel House is assessed for $405,600, according to city records.

The sale of the 21,400-square-foot Holy Trinity building is expected to take longer.

City Manager Scott Myers has said the city plans to solicit for potential buyers to submit “expressions of interest” in the two-story brick building, a process similar to the one the city followed when it was looking for a buyer for the old police station on Church Street, which is now the Binnie Media studios and offices.

Under the terms of the sale to the city the Busiel House and school cannot be used for activities which the Catholic Church considers immoral or blasphemous.

The fate of St. Joseph Church — not included in the sale — remains in doubt. The diocese has an application pending for a permit to demolish the church, an application the diocese insisted on keeping alive as a condition for agreeing to sell the Busiel House and school building to the city.

The St. Joseph property became redundant in the years following the consolidation in 2010 of what had been three Catholic parishes in the city into one parish. The facilities of the new St. Andre Bessette Parish have been consolidated on the campus of Sacred Heart Church.