A proposed drug treatment facility is one step closer to being built in Fall river on property overlooking the Taunton River. Stanley Street Treatment and Resources officials completed the purchase of 75 Weaver Street, which housed the former Border City Mill No. 3 complex, until that mill burned to the ground on February 20th, 2016. Now, all that remains of the mill are broken walls, and piles of scorched brick.
Public records indicate that SSTAR paid Weaver Cove Mill LLC about $675 thousand dollars for the property which spans approximately three (3) acres.
The plan drawn up by STARR representatives at the 386 Stanley Street location, are to open a medical care and research facility on the land to provide inpatient and outpatient care for substance abusers, according SStar Executive Director Nancy Paul. Currently the organization helps about five thousand (5) primary care patients and handles some 50 thousand visits a year from addicts and their families.
State Representative Carole Fiola is one opponent of the plan. She feels that Fall River has shouldered enough of the problems associated with substance abuse, and feels other communities should step up to take on some of the burden. While she says SSTRR does a wonderful job of treating patients, she notes that Fall River already has two methadone clinics, just one behind the entire city of Boston and is in essence, when is enough, enough?
Photo courtesy: Fall River Herald News Photographer Dave Sousa
SSTAR has not yet released details of its plans for the facility. The cost of the facility is estimated at $12 million. The organization is still working on plans for campaign to raise the money to pay for it.
The land was purchased from Weaver Cove Mill LLC, a limited liability company managed by Gary Pave of Newtown, Pennsylvania, state records show.
City tax records show that Weaver Cove Mill LLC purchased the land and the 4-story brick mill building in 2011 for $280,000. The building had been vacant for years before the fire. The structure did not have working sprinklers, city officials say.
Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.
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