Piano museum lease offer still pending with renters
By Karen Mann Journal Correspondent

The selectmen are still waiting for a response from Pat and Michael Frederick on the proposed lease agreement for the Stevens Memorial Building.

The Fredericks lease the Main Street Building to house their collection of historical pianos and to run a learning center. The non-profit organization is call the Historical Piano Study Center.

The selectmen proposed keeping the rental agreement the same $250 a month for the next four years but requiring the Fredericks to complete $3,000 worth of building repairs and maintenance a year, including plowing, mowing the lawn and other continual care items.

"I feel like we struck a good balance," between obligation to the town and helping Fredericks, Board of Selectmen Jonathan Dennehy

said. "We tried to be as fair as possible to all interested parties."

The cost of the rental is being renegotiated as part of the 10-year contract between the town and the Fredericks.

The Fredericks still have to respond to the letter sent by selectmen and plan to continue to negotiate.

Selectmen have recommended certain work be done on the building as part of the lease agreement. Pat Frederick thinks the selectmen are most concerned with getting the water out of the basement. She says it does not flood, but gets damp when there is heavy rain or melting snow.

"There are other priorities (though)," she said. "We are trying to do new things properly."

She is concerned with painting exterior woodwork around the window frames so the frames don't completely rot out.

The work they have done so far is basically playing catch up for things that needed to be done, she said.

According to Frederick, an appraisal done in 1995 on the building as a rental property was $9,000 plus what the tenant would put into renovations.

She said they have paid the equivalent of 13 years of rent for the six years they have been in the building, not including insurance, utilities, and physical labor done such as raking and shoveling.

"We have done a very thorough job maintaining the building," she said.

The amount of rent they pay, $3,000, is not a significant part of the town's budget, she said. The work selectmen are requiring, Fredericks are going to have a difficult time paying rent and doing the repairs.

Dennehy said the board took into consideration market value of renting the building including limitations of the building's age, a lack of parking, and legal restrictions on the use of the building.

They also took into consideration the cultural and economic benefit of having the piano museum in the building.

Dennehy said the board wants to show the Fredericks goodwill and help them in whatever way they could.

"They are citizens of the town," he said. "They are doing a good thing."

But he said the board needs to weigh that along with what is best for the town because the board has an obligation to citizens.

Selectmen must take more responsibility for oversight of the building to ensure it is in decent condition, Dennehy said.

The Fredericks' lease is up in June 2010, they are hoping to train people to take over for them.

The lease is not in the Fredericks' name, but rather in the name of the business, so if they turn the business over to someone else, it will be under same guidelines as before.