The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-05-28

Atct
The proposition submitted by Hough-
ton & Simonds follows:
Brattleboro, Vt,
May a, 1919
To The Honorable Board of Selectmen:-
We submit herewith our reply to your
inquiry as to the price for which we will
sell portion of our lot at the corner
of Main and High streets to the town of
Brattleboro. At the same time we beg
leave to recall the events leading up to
our purchase of the property in question
and developments since that time, hop
ing that these facts will serve as an ex-
planation of our position.
Before buying this corner lot three
years ago we had two conferences with
the board of selectmen then in Office for
the purpose OF finding out if our proposed
| building plans met with their approval
| We proposed TO concede to the town quite
an area on High street. south of the pro-
posed building, and in. agreement with j.
| b. Manley to build back u feet from the
curb on the west side of Main street
| We were particularly careful to convince
ourselves before buying the lot that what
we planned would be satisfactory to the
| town
| The lot was then marked out and we
bought it at price Of $4,000, paying this
figure largely because of the prominence
| OF the corner and its consequent value
as property for commercial development
i The property has lain idle since that
time and there have been frequent dis.
cusslons as to the wisdom and feasibility
of the towns acquiring part or all of it,
but so far as we were able to ascertain
and we made every effort to sound pub.
lie opinion on the subiect-the feeling was
that the town could not afford to spend
the money necessary to make suggested
street changes at this location
As the carrying charges on idle rea
estate are extremely heavy we began this
spring to make plans for taking care o,
these charges by the erection of tempo
rary structure, building costs and loea
conditions not seeming to warrant the
erection of a permanent mercantile build
ing
We made no secret of the fact that W,
intended to put up garage that could bC
rented az a figure to cover the carryin.
charges of the lot, and discussed our plans
with numerous citizens As was the cast
orally approved and we felt justified il
going ahead. A visit to progressive towns
of this size anywhere in New England vii
! show that some Of the most prominen
locations in those towns are being utilizct
b for automobile salesrooms and garages
G The proposed garage building as was de
1 scrihed in The Reformer is to be a one
I story building of stucco with plate glas
luhg 4 tl.,.
! different elevations drawn before we set
\ tied upon a design that seemed to be tn
most satisfactory We believe that whel
the building is completed, it will be foun
that it will present neat and attractiv
D appearance.
\ When we were about to sign contrac
Tor the building we learned through tn
Reformer that a special town meetin
was to be called for the purpose of cor
siderng the widening of Main street i
! accordance with plan that would necei
& state the requirement of a consderabl
y strip on the front of orr lot Pendin
. the outcome Of this meeting we postpone
: signing the contract, and waited ten day
after the meeting, the result of which
b well known, to be sure that nothing FIJI
Their was likely to develop. During thu
time we availed ourselves Of every o.
| portuIiity to sound public sentiment, an
so far as we were able to ascertain II
project had been dropped by the tow
and we were free to go ahead.
Therefore we signed the contract ar
i work was started on the garage with
guarantee to have the building complet,
and ready for occupancy by July l. Sin
then there has been a revival of the az
tation in favor of widening Main stree
resulting in your request for price {
that part of our property necessary
bring this about
In giving you figure we wish to nal
our position as plain as possible. v
would prefer not to sell at any price. Y
raid large price for this lot because
its prominence. No one can honestly
ny. we believe, that the very fact tn
1t juts out somewhat beyond the lines
the buildings to the south makes the pre-