Renovation finally underway at historic Hurley/Murray building

Jul. 20—WILLIMANTIC — The long- awaited renovation to the historic Hurley/ Murray building has resumed, with work beginning at the site last week.

The building is at 699 Main St.

It was purchased by Northeastern Connecticut Community Development Corp., a non- profit, from Willi Hurl LLC in June 2014 for $115,000.

NCCDC transferred ownership of the building to Murray on Main, an LLC.

NCCDC President Barbara McGrath said the renovation is estimated to take between 12 and 18 months.

" The challenge with renovation is that you never know what you're going to find until you get into the property so it could be as long as 18 months," she said on Tuesday.

Site work began on July 11.

Windham Mayor Thomas DeVivo got a tour of the job site on Monday morning and said there were 20 or so workers on- site at the time.

He said he was encouraged by the progress made on the building.

"This is going to happen," DeVivo said.

The Hurley/Murray building was once the home of a department store and gymnastics business at different times. The project is being paid for using state and federal funds and the cost hasn't been finalized yet.

" It keeps shifting from day to day as we get some of the closing numbers down to be more specific," McGrath said.

Plans involve building 20 housing units for individuals of different income levels, including units designed for veterans and affordable housing units.

There are also plans to bring retail onto the ground floor.

" This really started as a 10 year-plan to end homelessness," McGrath said, referring to Windham County's plan. Work is being done by Enterprise Builders of Newington.

In 2016, NCCDC was awarded up to $ 2.57 million through the Competitive Housing Assistance for Multifamilies Program for the renovation of the Murray building.

The town was awarded $650,000 in state bond funds several years ago for several downtown projects, including $ 250,000 to make facade improvements to the Hurley/ Murray, Nassif, Hale and Pouya buildings, as well as the former Hooker Hotel.

$50,000 was allocated for each of those projects.

NCCDC had the roof repaired on the building, a project Town council members approved a 15- year tax abatement agreement with NCCDC in June 2021. Under that agreement, the taxes range from $ 5,300 to $20,000, depending on the year.

McGrath said on Tuesday that contractors are doing preliminary demolition and environmental remediation now. She said approval is needed from the National Park Service and state Historic Preservation Office for the windows. National Park Service manages the federal historic tax credits, while the state Historic Preservation Office manages the state tax credits.

Currently, the Murray on Main is waiting to hear from the National Park Service.

" They have a 30- day review period and we gave them some answers last week and it started another 30- day period," McGrath

RENOVATIONS, Page 4