The Civic Standard, a three-year-old nonprofit in Hardwick, is relocating across Main Street after purchasing a former flower shop at 39 S. Main St. in early September. The organization had spent the past year evaluating whether to repair its dilapidated headquarters in the oldest building on Main Street, the former Hardwick Gazette building at 42 S. Main St., which suffers from structural issues and sits in a floodway.
Executive Director Rose Friedman said the community’s support made clear that the Civic’s mission, low-barrier, accessible programming, is widely valued. The new building, built in the 1920s, offers more than double the ground-floor space and includes a commercial kitchen needed for the group’s weekly community suppers.
The Civic launched a “New Home Fund” with a $400,000 goal covering the $352,000 purchase and minor repairs; over half had been raised by the time the deal closed. Donations of labor and supplies have also come in.
The organization has put out a call for letters of interest for the old building, which needs at least $140,000 in repairs to maintain insurance. If no new owner steps forward, the Civic has entered the structure into FEMA’s buyout program, which would lead to demolition and conversion to green space. Friedman said the group has about two years to decide.
NEK will be looking into the status of the FEMA buyout program and whether any other parties have submitted letters of interest for the historic building.
Originally reported by VTDigger.
Photo: Artaxerxes (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0). Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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