HUDSON – Work to turn Hudson’s former National Guard Armory into a performing arts center is moving forward.
Town Meeting gave the Select Board the authority on Monday to enter into a lease with the Hudson Cultural Alliance for the property for three years.
This Town Meeting article is the latest step in the lengthy armory project, which envisions creating a new cultural center in the currently vacant downtown facility.
President of the Hudson Cultural Alliance Tom Desmond noted during Town Meeting that Gov. Charlie Baker has signed legislation authorizing the state to sell the armory property to the town.
Phase one of the project involved the Cultural Alliance securing funds to be able to purchase the property. While the town will technically own the armory, the alliance will lease it.
“That has started the 180-day clock for the town and the Hudson Cultural Alliance to complete this process,” Desmond said of Baker’s signature. “All this [article] is going to do is give the Select Board the authorization to sit down with us and come up with a lease agreement that will be appropriate for both the town and the Cultural Alliance.”
Hudson will take ownership of the armory property at some point within those 180 days, Desmond said.
As Desmond explained the reasoning for the article, resident Greg Vachowski said he did not believe Town Meeting should approve it.
He argued that Hudson doesn’t own the property, adding that he didn’t believe that a previous vote by Town Meeting had specifically authorized its purchase.
While he noted there had been an article to explore it, he said the purchase should come before Town Meeting again.
“At this point, I don’t think we should authorize the Board of Selectmen to lease property that we don’t own,” Vachowski said.
Desmond countered that this article was “another step” in the process initially approved by Town Meeting.
“[Town Meeting] authorized the Hudson Cultural Alliance to pursue the acquisition of the armory property,” he said. “All this article is going to do is to allow the Select Board to negotiate with us to set up the terms of the lease.”
Executive Assistant Thomas Gregory reiterated that Town Meeting had already authorized the Select Board to acquire the armory.
“There’s no additional step that Town Meeting needs to take before the commonwealth conveys the armory to the town,” Gregory said.
The alliance secured money to fund the purchase of the armory last summer thanks to $230,000 in state budget earmarks. It has received an additional grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to allocate $200,000 for renovations.
Prior to the vote, Desmond again encouraged Town Meeting to approve the article.
“Our group, working with the town, has put a great deal of time and effort into this process,” he said. “We raised enough money to get this process started.”
Other Town Meeting approvals
The armory vote was one of 30 articles on the warrant during Hudson’s Town Meeting on Monday.
On a separate article, after much discussion about electric vehicles, Town Meeting ultimately approved purchasing three traditional police cruisers, which was part of Hudson’s capital plan.
Among other things, voters also approved $525,000 for the design and construction of air conditioning at Farley Elementary School and $590,000 to replace the Mulready Elementary School windows.
RELATED CONTENT
Hudson Select Board approves ‘due diligence’ contract for Armory project
Cultural Alliance expects Hudson armory purchase finalized this year
After ‘crossing the chasm,’ Alliance prepares its next steps in purchasing Hudson Armory
