The Town of Cobleskill is staying put.
After considering four options in a closed, executive session Monday, Supervisor Roger Cohn said, the suddenly-in demand town ruled out:
• Moving in with the village on Mineral Springs Road.
• Buying 107 Union Street.
• Becoming the lone tenant in Newberry Square.
“I know it’s going to disappoint some people, but in the end, staying where we are seemed to make the most sense,” Mr. Cohn said.
“We’ll reconfigure there and if another opportunity comes around, we’ll be ready.”
The decision followed a presentation by CPI President Brian Kaiser, who argued the town-as-tenant is the only real way to make the historic if run-down building viable again.
With word that Schoharie County ARC is moving out of the Main Street building, Mr. Kaiser said the 1,800 square-feet they could offer the town is considerably more than they have now or would have at 107 Union.
Mr. Cohn said Tuesday CPI did a good job on the presentation, but Newberry’s was never really viable.
“The building is in tough shape,” Mr. Cohn said. “CPI was using us to leverage a loan, but if they weren’t able to attract any other tenants, what would happen then [to renovations and repairs]?”
The town began the bid for space with word that it planned to buy 107 Union Street for $150,000 and then invest another $150,000 in renovations and repairs, but Mr. Cohn said in the end, he and councilmen became concerned over the real costs of that project as well.
“Economically, people are really strapped,” he said.
“We heard concerns about taking it off the tax rolls and even though we planned to do the renovations as we could afford them, we weren’t sure how much things like heating and windows would really cost. It just didn’t seem like a prudent move now.”
Most recently, Mayor Mike Sellers and Mr. Cohn talked about the possibility of sharing space in the village office, but Mr. Cohn said there didn’t really seem to be enough space for both of them there.
The town is a tenant at Shad Point.
Under CPI’s plans, they would have been a tenant at Newberry’s too.