It looks like the City of Fall River may need to restart the process of finding a buyer for the historic Bank Street Armory.
Mayor Paul Coogan tells us that interest in the historic armory by the American Numismatic Society, which is seeking a new home for its research collection and library, may be shifting to Toledo, OH.
Last year, the city council rejected a bid to sell the armory to local developer Alan Macomber, who sought to convert it into a mix of market-rate and affordable housing. Some councilors would like the city to restore the building for community use. The city estimates that between ten and twelve million dollars would be needed to renovate the building.
The mayor says if the museum decides not to pursue Fall River for its relocation, the city will again request proposals to redevelop the property.
You had $90 million. The restrictions on how it could be spent was drastically decreased several months after you received it. We still have homeless living everywhere with people dying in the street. We still have this building. We still have the police station and just recently you began taking down the school on Hartwell Street. That only happened because there was a fire. It had been reported to your office dozens of times that young kids and homeless people were going in that building. It remained open. The city never went and boarded it up the way they do other buildings. You had a proposal for that school that would have took it off your hands, cleaned it up and put open space there by a local business owner and partners. Because you want to try and get some money. Probably to give more jobs and raises you turned it down. Unbelievable how this man operates this city