Two area developers, Jerry Guidera and Russ Wilson, operating as Hills House LLC, plan to develop a cluster of historic homes in Amherst on a three-acre plot of land in the historic Dickinson District.
Guidera, of Amherst, and Wilson, of Shutesbury bought the land from developer Barry Roberts for $1.12 million in January 2008. Roberts originally purchased the land in July 2007 from the Amherst Boys and Girls Club.
“Our main focus for the project was restoring the Henry Hills House, and the other houses and projects were a way to generate enough revenue to complete the Hills House project,” Guidera said.
Currently the Gray Street property includes the Henry Hills House and the Chapin-Ward House, which was relocated from Kendrick Park in November 2007 by Roberts for about $75,000. The property also contains four additional buildable lots.
The Town of Amherst is considering using Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds in order to secure two of the empty lots to build a small park.
According to the development plans, this “would secure an open view of the Henry Hills House and keep the Main Street corridor and downtown gateway in its current form.”
Amherst’s Historical Commission approved a move to the property of two former faculty houses belonging to Amherst College at Monday’s meeting. The move would occupy the last two remaining lots. One is the former Tuttle farmhouse at 415 South East St. and the other is the Potvin House located at 23 Spring St., which will be remodeled.
Amherst College plans to hire a moving company in order to move the houses to Guidera’s and Wilson’s land at no charge to them, according to an article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
“Our plan is to restore these two buildings to their historic glory,” said
Guidera.
After the move, Amherst College has plans to transform the property on South East Street to a recreation site of open space. The Lord Jeffrey Inn hopes to expand onto the Spring Street property.
Renovations have already begun on both the Chapin-Ward House and the Henry Hills House. The Henry Hills House, built in 1865, is being offered at $850,000 plus the cost of repairs at closing which are estimated to be $300,000. The Chapin-Ward House, built in 1904, is selling for $450,000 plus an estimated $200,000 in repairs.
The two houses being transported from Amherst College will both require a great deal of renovations and plan to sell for at least $600,000, according to Guidera.
Guidera hopes that the houses from Amherst College will be moved sometime within the next month and will take approximately a year to renovate.
Currently Guidera is the operations director at the Center for Cross-Cultural Study in Amherst and Wilson is a builder and renovator. The two have taken out a two-year commercial loan to finance this project.
Kristen Healy can be reached at [email protected]
