Health Dept.: Town-Owned, Historic Gilbert & Bennett Building ‘Unsafe to Occupy,’ Forcing G&B Cultural Center to Close; Boucher says “Wilton Can’t Afford to Fix It”

“The building at 49 New St. in Wilton has been deemed unsafe to occupy due to health and safety issues exacerbated by the massive storm on August 18, 2024, and occupants must vacate as soon as possible.”

That was the opening paragraph in a Sept. 4 letter sent by First Selectman Toni Boucher to Pat Hegnauer, director of the G&B Cultural Center (49 New St., Georgetown).

Amid the many months of discussions about Wilton’s numerous Town-owned properties and the extensive building upgrades needed over the next 15 years, the historic Gilbert & Bennett building has hardly been a focal point. And yet, conditions at the building are reported to be bad enough that the Town has ordered occupants to leave:

“The hazardous conditions include a roof that leaks on a continual basis and requires total replacement; a damaged plumbing system; cracked bathroom pipes; and wet walls amongst other problems. As a result, the building can no longer be occupied… Please advise your current occupants that they have 30 days to remove their property.”

Hegnauer and tenants in the building — primarily artists — are not painting a pretty picture of the turmoil that has resulted from what they see as a sudden and unreasonable order to leave. They and other concerned area residents are suggesting the Town failed to live up to its obligations to properly maintain the building and is now ignoring the long tradition of having a community space rooted in the building’s history. Some have even questioned the Town’s true intentions and fear what may happen to the historic building going forward.

Boucher said she is “trying to do what is right for the Town” and defended the Town’s action as an unavoidable move primarily motivated by concern for occupants, given the poor condition of the building and an Aug. 29 determination by the Wilton Health Department that the building is unsafe.

In an interview with GMW, Boucher also revealed her conviction that the Town simply cannot afford the renovations that are desperately needed at G&B — given what she considers higher priorities for capital spending at Town Hall, Wilton schools, Ambler Farm and other Town-owned facilities over the next several years. (Boucher has taken that position since before the advisory committee tasked with making recommendations for prioritizing the Town’s capital spending even began formulating its recommendations.) She has publicly expressed her openness to selling the property and was personally involved in showing it to at least one prospective buyer, though she insists there is “no active interest” from any buyer at present.

In this article, GOOD Morning Wilton takes a closer look at the Town’s actions in the context of the unique relationships between the Town, community groups and the occupants of the storied property.

G&B Tenants React

GMW reached out to Hegnauer for comment on the Sept. 4 order to vacate. It was apparent she felt both frustrated and defeated.

“It was poorly handled, to say the least,” she said. “After 15 years of providing a place, an artistic place, for the town and the surrounding towns to come — it’s one of its kind — and it’s now over because the Town didn’t maintain the building.”

Hegnauer was reluctant to comment in a way that might create further conflict and had favorable things to say about Town employees, including DPW Director Frank Smeriglio, Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker, and especially DPW Administrative Manager Jennifer Fascitelli, with whom Hegnauer says she interacted regularly to report any repair needs. But ultimately, Hegnauer says the Town leaders failed to plan the meaningful updates the building needed.

“The Town has been using bandaids instead of doing surgery,” she said, adding that “we’ve done the best we can” while hopes for major updates always seemed to go unfulfilled.

GMW also spoke with two tenants impacted by the Town’s order to vacate.

Heidi Holzer, a designer who operates a custom wallpaper and home furnishings business, was also very frustrated with the Town’s handling of the situation.

“I run a business out of there,” Holzer said. “I have contracts. I need the space in order to fulfill my contracts. 30 days is not a significant amount of time to find a new place and move all of my belongings, because whatever place I find has to be built to certain specifications. It is not a reasonable amount of time.”

After six years of renting her studio space, Holzer is questioning the timing of the Town’s order and what she said she sees as a lack of “transparency”.

“The health issues that they are alluding to have existed during the entire time that they have been willing to rent this space to me,” Holzer said. “This is nothing new. This is not a new occurrence.”

“There has not been an attempt to maintain or keep this building. That’s the short and long of it,” she said.

Holzer’s concerns go beyond her business interests. She also lives on Church St. just steps away from the G&B building.

“There is a cultural and architectural significance to this building,” Holzer said. “There is a significance for the building for the town of Georgetown.” [Editor’s note: The property also currently encompasses two athletic fields maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department for youth sports.]

Another longtime G&B tenant, who asked remain anonymous in order to provide first-hand on-the-record comments, told GMW the “dismissive and abrupt manner in which all of the artists were evicted was very difficult.”

“It breaks my heart to see the sad and incredibly badly managed ending for so many artists who have had their studios there,” the tenant said.

Overwhelmed by the unexpected order, the tenant appealed directly to Boucher for more time to relocate the custom-built wall unit, furniture and equipment in her art studio, but was “not given one minute of extra time.” (Boucher later told GMW tenants would be allowed entry for a few weeks after the Oct. 4 deadline, though only if “in and out quickly.”)

The tenant was especially disappointed to realize the situation does not appear temporary.

“I have asked Toni Boucher if and when we will be allowed to return to the building… The message seems to be that we will not be welcomed back,” she said.

Like Holzer, she also intimated the “health and safety” issues could be a pretext for ousting the tenants.

“Of course, the one thing all of us are wondering is, was this all simply a quick way to eliminate tenants from a building?” she asked. “I will be very interested to see what’s going on with the [G&B building] one year from now. I think it’s a pretty safe bet it will not be an arts center anymore. At least not in the capacity it has been for many years.”  

Boucher’s Position

GMW interviewed Boucher after learning about the order to vacate.

She began by describing an earlier experience showing the property to a prospective buyer.

“I actually gave a tour [to] this interested party through the building. And of course, I learned a great deal, and what I saw was disheartening,” she said, referring to multiple visible problems in the building.

Boucher said she was further “disheartened” when she personally inspected the G&B building after the Aug. 18 storm.

“I had to have the health director take a look,” she said. “So when we walked through, the health director wrote it up afterwards immediately and said it is not occupiable.”

“What I saw previously was a concern, but then after the flood, it was much worse,” Boucher said. “It reached a point of no return — a point where for the health and safety of anybody that goes in.”

“Until such time as we have the funds to be able to bring the building up to par, it really cannot sustain any activity in there,” Boucher continued.

Boucher went further.

“Two- to three- million dollars is much more than anything we can afford,” she declared. “We have Ambler Farm to fix. We have the Town Hall complex that has tremendous needs, where we actually have employees and staff working. We do not have any [employees] in that G&B building.”

“We just can’t afford it right now,” Boucher emphasized. “Right now, the highest priority is [the facilities] occupied with our students and with our staff.”

Wait, What About The TSNAP Committee?

The Town and School Needs Assessment Priorities Committee (TSNAP) was formed in July to help the Board of Selectmen determine how to prioritize the spending for the myriad needs across Town-owned facilities over the next 15 years.

The needs assessment, which was conducted by outside consultants, estimated the necessary G&B repairs at just over $3 million in the next 10 years, including $63,000 in “immediate” repairs and $2.15 million in other critical needs in the next 1-2 years.

While the needs assessment did not report unsafe structural issues at G&B, it did include a “building integrity advisory” specifically related to the history of water intrusion in the basement, as well as a number of issues with the roof. A long list of other issues was also identified, including:

• a septic system dating to 1981 with a history of bathroom clogging (recommended for conversion to a sewer connection)
• the need for air conditioning throughout the building (only window units currently in place)
• an obsolete fire alarm system

When the TSNAP Committee first convened, the committee members acknowledged that the inventory of Town-owned properties could change. Boucher said at the time, the Town was open to selling the G&B building, potentially avoiding the $3 million expense just to maintain the property if the Town retains ownership.

Almost from day one of her tenure, Boucher has been clear about what she sees as the top priority: renovating Town Hall and addressing other building and space needs on the Town Hall campus. In contrast, the costs for G&B repairs are no longer included in the working 15-year capital plan. GMW asked Boucher why.

“Priorities needed to be with our schools and municipal buildings as well as Ambler Farm. There simply is no money or bonding capacity to address [G&B],” Boucher responded.

One prominent town official with knowledge of TSNAP discussions spoke with GMW but did not want to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media on the subject. That official told GMW that to their knowledge, G&B had not been taken off the table from consideration.

“TSNAP has not been told anything about it, beyond Toni’s hints that she has other plans for it,” the official said, referring to “reading between the lines” of public comments Boucher has made about the building.

It’s unclear whether the members of the Board of Selectmen agree with Boucher’s stated priorities. The G&B building was discussed in a confidential executive session on Sept. 3 (the evening before the notice to vacate was sent to G&B) but has not been discussed by the selectmen publicly since the findings from the town-wide building needs assessment began emerging many months ago.

Historical Significance

Not only is the property within a designated Local Historic District, but it is also within the National Register’s Georgetown Historic District, and the G&B building itself is a National Register-designated building.

According to National Register documentation, “the New Street District includes one of the most outstanding buildings in the village, that is the Gilbert and Bennett School… The building and its location continue the early twentieth-century development of the village.” It goes on to highlight how the school and surrounding workforce homes created a “unique and remarkable neighborhood” around the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Co., which operated the nearby wire mill.

The G&B building’s historic designations mean a formal review process would be required for any proposed alteration or demolition of the building’s exterior.

The Gilbert & Bennett Company constructed the school building in 1915 for the local community, which was comprised largely of G&B employees. It created “School District #10,” drawing students from Redding, Weston and Wilton. That arrangement was dissolved in a 1964 transaction in which Wilton became the sole property owner.

The property continued to function as a public and private school for several years and was nearly sold to Landmark Academy before a deal fell apart in the 1990s. Later, during then-First Selectman Bill Brennan‘s term in 2011, the Town entered into an agreement with the Georgetown Community Association (GCA) for $1 per year, in which the association would manage activities and daily upkeep at the building while Wilton was responsible for major repairs.

The GCA installed Hegnauer as the on-site director of what then became known as the G&B Cultural Center. A non-profit entity, the G&B Foundation, was created for the purposes of separating fundraising and expenses from the GCA. (Tenants paid rent to the foundation, not to the Town or GCA.)

Maryann Rossi, president of the GCA, said the organization has been “fairly inactive” in recent years.

She declined to comment about the Town’s recent action, except to say “It took everyone by surprise,” and “We were not in the loop… we were blindsided.”

“It’s just a great old building,” she mused. “[Everyone] in Georgetown is very devoted to it, for many reasons. It’s always been used for the community… it was always more than just a school building.”

A Legal Question?

Boucher points to the 1964 quit claim deed (a two-page document that GMW reviewed), which she says places no restrictions on Wilton’s ability to sell the property.

“The town has had the ability to sell the building at any time,” she stated.

However, historian and local resident Julie Hughes told GMW she believes earlier covenants that required Wilton to make the building accessible to the Georgetown community may still apply. [Editor’s note: Hughes discussed the topic with GMW as a concerned citizen and devoted historian, not in her official capacity on the Wilton Historical Society Board of Trustees or as the archivist in the History Room at Wilton Library.]

At the time this story was published, GMW was unable to obtain a copy of the documents to which Hughes referred, but in a memo to GMW, Hughes wrote:

“[In 1916] the Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co. formally deeded the property and the new schoolhouse to School District #10. The deed included a number of covenants applying to ‘the grantee and its successors’,” and specifically included language that the building would continue to be available as a “Community Hall for the benefit of the people of… Georgetown and its vicinity.” 

Hughes cited several public documents and statements from Wilton town officials during the 1964 negotiations which she believes documented the Town’s commitment that the community aspect of the building would continue in perpetuity.

“While these agreements were not written in the 1964 quit claim deed, that deed did refer back to the 1916 deed with its covenants. In addition, these agreements were recorded in the minutes of the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance, and the Board of Education, as well as in correspondence between these boards and the Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co. Independently of Town of Wilton records, they were also recorded in the minutes of the Board of Directors of the Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co.,” Hughes wrote in her memo to GMW.

In an earlier version of the Town’s agreement with the GCA, the Town retained the right to use the space for its own purposes with 90 days’ notice to any tenants. That agreement was updated as a month-to-month agreement under then-First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice. Under Boucher’s tenure, the month-to-month agreement remained unchanged.

However, Boucher said she was uncomfortable with the “loose situation” that existed with the Town’s relationship to the GCA and Hegnauer’s operations, in contrast to the more formal, extensive programming at Ambler Farm, where Boucher says the property deed is also much more explicit in defining the Town’s obligations to maintain the property.

In her interview with GMW, Boucher strongly rejected the allegation that the health and safety issues, which existed for many years before the August flooding, were a pretext for getting rid of occupants to make the building easier to sell. 

“That is false,” Boucher said. “The Town has had the ability to sell the building at any time now or in the past. There are no buyers interested in the purchase of this building at this time. The only concern the town has is for the health and safety of anyone who may enter the building. The Health Department inspection says that the building is no longer inhabitable after the storm.”

Boucher emphasized she is “trying to respect [the occupants] by giving them time to remove their property” while also “trying to do what is right for the Town.”

Whether strictly required under the property deed or simply in keeping with Wilton’s long tradition, some G&B supporters believe it is still Wilton’s obligation to ensure that community use of the property will continue.

In 2021, when two other Town-owned properties near G&B (7 and 31 New Street) were being considered for redevelopment, Allison Gray Sanders, then chair of Wilton’s Historic District and Historic Properties Commission (HDHP), urged Town officials to include the commission’s input in the planning process for such matters. Boucher said she has not consulted HDHP about the G&B building.

In addition to her HDHP service, Sanders also worked for several years as co-director of the Wilton Historical Society. She told GMW she believes Town officials have been “disinterested” at best when it comes to G&B, and she sharply criticized the Town for “poor stewardship” over the years.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Sanders said. “At best, the Town is a disinterested landlord when it comes to stewardship of their antique properties such as the G&B School and Ambler Farm.” 

“Once again, their inclination to avoid funding and delay maintenance has resulted in an entirely preventable problem at a Town-owned historic property.  It is not only poor stewardship, but opens the Town to liability issues,” Sanders added.

“Antique buildings need a purpose in order to survive,” Sanders continued. “As the [G&B] Cultural Center, the old G&B School had a purpose. In my view, the Town should act quickly to mitigate and repair the problems, and get the tenants back into their spaces ASAP.”

Sanders also shares Hughes’ view that the 1916 deed obligates the Town to maintain the property for use by the Georgetown community.

“If it is closed, it is not available as it should be,” Sanders said.

What’s Next?

Boucher says the outlook for the building is “uncertain.”

“We will have to keep the building closed for the foreseeable future until the funds become available for the necessary repairs,” she said.

“There is nothing on the table, in the foreseeable future, that anyone has an interest in that property,” Boucher repeated. “Right now, the only consideration we have is the health and safety of it being occupied. It’s a risk to them and it’s a risk to the Town.”

Boucher said she welcomed private investment.

“If anybody has an interest, they should come to the Town and express it,” Boucher said. “If someone could come up with the [private funding] to repair it, put it in good condition, and lease it from the Town, then of course, we’re open to anyone that is interested, whether it’s a museum, a community center, a school, [etc.].”