EDA closes on 506 East Main Street property sale – ultimate use to be determined

As the accompanying photos show, on Monday, April 6, a county crew cleaned out the last vestiges of previous tenants, in this case of second-floor rental storage units that remained unclaimed, in preparation for the April 7th closing on the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority’s sale of 506 East Main Street. The property previously housed Stokes Mart, later B&G Goods and most recently the Main Street Market.

And if the two recent commercial retail incarnations have been troubled, EDA Executive Director Doug Parsons sees light at the end of the tunnel in what he hopes is part one of a two-phased sale of the adjacent 506 and 514 East Main Street properties.

Above, a final cleanup before closing the deal on EDA’s sale of 506 East Main Street commercial property; below, another angle toward residential properties across East Main St. Royal Examiner Photos/Mark Williams

Shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, Parsons confirmed the closing on the 506 East Main property earlier that day. The sale is to James Weber, trading as East Main Commercial LLC. Parsons said that Weber owns two Victorian-style, residential rental buildings across East Main Street from his new parcel, as well as other unspecified properties.

Responding to a question, Parsons said Weber plans “significant general renovations” to improve the commercial space which had roof repair and HVAC issues during the Main Street Market leasing of the property. However, Parsons added that East Main Commercial has no firm plan in place as to the building’s future usage. The EDA director said the new owner may be looking at a leasing option for another person or commercial entity to operate out of the renovated building.

At the regular monthly meeting of the EDA Board of Directors on March 27, a resolution was approved on the “backup” sale to an, at the time, unnamed buyer at a price of $190,000. Also approved by the EDA board that day, was the return of C&C Frozen Treats owner William Huck’s $5,000 deposit on the property in the wake of that prospective sale apparently falling through the financing cracks.

“I’d like to thank Mr. Weber for his investment in Front Royal and East Main Street – we thought the property belonged in the private sector, and now it is. And we look forward to his planned improvements,” Parsons said by phone Wednesday afternoon.

Above, EDA Executive Director Doug Parsons observes pre-closing cleanout of upstairs storage bins; below, a file shot of 506 E. Main St. Royal Examiner Photos/Mark Williams, Roger Bianchini

Parsons also expressed gratitude to Warren County General Services Director Brandi Rosser and her department for Monday’s final clearing of the property. Parsons noted that the EDA attempted to contact all storage unit renters with varying degrees of success. Unable to contact some, and not hearing from others, local charities were given a chance to peruse unclaimed contents prior to Monday’s removal of what was left.

If Parsons and his board believed the old Stokes Mart building belonged in the private sector, that holds double for the adjoining 514 East Main Street property that houses a three-apartment residential rental building that, as Parsons has previously observed, EDA’s are not typically involved in as rental or marketing properties – “It is not a property we should own,” he reiterated Wednesday.

The EDA executive director said discussion “is going well” with a prospective buyer of the apartment building, and he hopes that a move toward closing on that property could come within the next several weeks.

One down, one to go – the market and adjacent apartment building. Royal Examiner File Photos/Roger Bianchini

As to the above-reference “troubled” recent retail incarnations, B&G Goods principal William Lambert is one of 15 EDA civil litigation defendants and has also been indicted criminally related to the EDA civil litigation. The Main Street Market lease ended early amidst physical structural repair issues as the EDA traversed the troubled waters of its newly evolving legal and financial landscape.

Shots inside the 506 East Main market building during Monday’s cleanout. Royal Examiner Photos/Mark Williams