BERLIN – Construction on the Main Street storefronts that are currently boarded up is expected to begin next month.
Samantha Pielstick, property manager for Jack Burbage, said this week that work on Burbage’s buildings in the downtown area – which include storefronts on Main Street as well as Pitts and William streets – should begin in January. Town officials have expressed growing frustration in recent months regarding the lack of progress on the renovation project.
“We’re all interested in getting to the other side of this,” Pielstick said.
Last week, members of the Berlin Historic District Commission told Planning Director Dave Engelhart they wanted an update on the revitalization of the structures from 19 N. Main St. to 7 North Main St. Commission members expressed frustration regarding the appearance of the buildings, which had their awnings removed prior to the summer season and continue to be covered in plywood.
“I think we ought to put their feet to the fire about getting the outside done by next spring,” commission member Carol Rose said. “It’s not fair that all the other merchants have to go through that horrible looking mess again.”
Other commission members agreed the project needed to get moving.
“We want to stay on top of this,” said Nornie Bunting, chair of the commission. “This is the heart of our town.”
While some work was approved in the spring, it was in September that Pielstick got approval for the portions of the project on Pitts Street and William Street. She said this week bidding had been underway all fall and that she’d just gotten permits for the project in the beginning of December.
“We’re looking at starting demolition in January,” she said, adding that there were a lot of shoppers in town leading up to the holidays. “It makes sense to keep the streets open until January.”
She said she’d been working nonstop on the project, which is a large-scale renovation.
While she couldn’t say which portion of the work would be complete first, she said Main Street was the highest priority.
“How everything comes together is going to be as fast as we can move,” she said.
Pielstick is hopeful that construction will be done by summer but asks residents to be patient.
“Bear with us,” she said. “It’s going to be ugly before it’s pretty. We hope people understand we’re all working toward the same goal.”
