metcalfe 8-2-22..pdfM e t c a l f e A s s o c i a t e s A R C H I T E C T V R E
142 Main St. Northampton, MA, 01060 Tristram W. Metcalfe III, Ma. Reg. 5393
Phone number > 413 586 5775 Cell number > 413 695 8200 Email > twm3@rcn.com
NCARB, NYS, MA, CT, NH
registrations
WMAIA
AIA
August 2, 2022
To; VIA EMAIL – slavalley@northamptonma.gov Community Preservation Committee of
Northampton c/o Sarah LaValley, Staff [CPC]
cc; VIA EMAIL – mhl@marthalyon.com Northampton Historical Commission c/o Martha
Lyon, Chair [NHC]
Subject: Support for O'Connell Development Group’s [ODG] Application for CPC Funding
for Exterior Work on Saint John Cantius Church
Dear CPC and NHC members,
I am an architect who has been fighting to save historic buildings in
Northampton following the opening of my office on Main St in 1981. I have
been involved in gaining Historic Preservation Tax Credits [HPTCs] on many
buildings in Western Mass and I know their guideline potentials and risks.
HPTCs are not required to preserve SJC profit but they simply can reduce
preservation expense by 30% which simply can add returns on top of the low
risk profitability without the HPTCs.
I hope the Community Preservation Committee will help save St John
Cantius church [SJC] from being wastefully dumped in a landfill by instead
awarding what ODG seeks. If not ODG could say “we tried to save SJC but
Northampton wont help us preserve it.
If your concern is that the ODG's request is too much of a private
ownership subsidy motivating you to let it be destroyed, please consider that
the exterior has public realm visibility value both enhances tourism while also
preserving valuable local built history that has been sadly disappearing for
decades here in Northampton.
Alternatively;
However if you feel ODG's application requires even more incentive to
overcome letting it be destroyed, then please consider the goal to allow more
public benefit with more public access value for both tourism and for
enhancement to all local lives in the valley regionally and the city locally.
This gain could be with much more public access to the church by
requiring the preservation of the church interior as well as the exterior.
It would very simply be to build six valuable 2 bed room 1200+/- sf
apartments at near grade level to Hawley Street below the sanctuary space at
less cost than the 10 apartment units ODG proposes to fill up SJC with that
eliminate its interior history and its future public assembly value.
If the CPC helps create more pubic value with ODG, it obviously would
be justified to offer ODG its subsidy and even more than they ask for due to so
much more public value being created with the CPC money even if at a lower
overall project cost.
This save would create a magnificent unique irreplaceable space for
music where the organ as the pinnacle of musical instruments resides, The
space would be elegant for ceremonies and for supporting all the arts sitting
across the street from Northampton Center for the Arts.
Additionally
The total preservation of SJC would certainly gain the return of 39% of
invested money back to the owner with Historic Preservation Tax Credits in a
development that even without HPTCs is lower risk with its lower expense.
The units would rent for 5 years and then could be sold as condominiums.
Summary;
Please award what ODG asks for their development vision as they
present it. I only add the alternative option to consider if you feel what you
need to accomplish falls short of enough public benefit.
The smaller 6 unit project with its much larger public benefits has less
investment with its similar profit margins when built at the grade level by
expanding the basement. That lower grade level is closer to the Hawley Street
sidewalk grade level at 3-1/2 ft down vs 5-1/2 ft up to the main floor sanctuary.
The grade level therefore has an ADA ramp down that is shorter than the
existing ramp going up from the sidewalk that must start higher at the side of
the building on Philips Place.
See a plan & section attached to help you visualize that this option has
units with plenty of natural light and south views. Additionally there is a view to
a common enclosed corridor with a year round rock garden berm that could be
private for each of the average 1200 sq ft 2 bed room units. The green lawn
roof of the 6 units could also add to both the 6 living units and or as an exterior
area for the assembly space functions that it is at level with.
Thank you for looking at this potential.
Sincerely,
Tris Metcalfe