Town Manager Mary Tzambazakis said if there is no payment received the town will probably try to recoup its expenses by selling the property.
The remains of the Casino Theater are seen in a pile of rubble in downtown Ware last month after the former theater was demolished.WARE – Town Manager Mary T. Tzambazakis said town officials are compiling all of the expenses related to demolishing the Casino Theater building and will present a bill for the total cost to owner Fred T. McLennan.
Tzambazakis said the property is already in tax title status, so if there is no payment received for the town’s expenses in taking the building down the town will probably try to recoup its expenses by selling the property.
McLennan has said that the building was not in as bad a shape as was claimed by town officials and the engineers who studied the building for the town, and he repeatedly said that he had plans to refurbish the building and reopen it as a theater.
Tzambazakis said there was a wall bowing on one side of the building and that it was no longer safe for people passing by, let alone for audiences to be inside.
The town had filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing McLennan to either make the necessary repairs or demolish the building, but he met several court-ordered deadlines for taking action that were related to the lawsuit.
While there was some interest in town in trying to preserve the 109-year-old theater building at 121 Main St., the majority of residents who attended a special Town Meeting on Nov. 8, 2011 voted to authorize the town to spend up to $150,000 to demolish the building.
CBI Consulting Inc., which was hired by the town to inspect the building, reported that it would take about $2 million to restore the theater to a safe, good condition.
McLennan said the restoration estimates put out by CBI Consulting were far higher than what it would have cost to make the building safe again.
According to records in the Hampshire Registry of Deeds, McLennan bought the theater in 2009 from Western Massachusetts Theaters Inc. for $1.
The town’s lawsuit against McLennan names Western Massachusetts Theaters as a second defendant.
Tzambazakis said putting the property up for sale at an auction is an option for the Board of Selectmen.