The Warren Housing Authority is selling an office building that has mostly sat unused and vacant since it purchased the property 10 years ago.
The authority purchased its large office building at 470 Metacom Ave. for $856,000 in July 2008. Authority board members said at the time that that the 7,480-square-foot building and one-acre parcel on which it sits could be a good future home for residences and would serve the authority’s long term goals. However, plans to redevelop the property never came to pass, and the building has sat vacant for much of the time since. It is currently listed with Realtor Thomas Sweeney for $725,000.
Housing authority executive director Michael Abbruzzi said the building was used briefly by WaterRower when the firm was building its headquarters just south of Libby Lane. During its brief stay in the building, WaterRower completed minor repairs on the roof and did some other minor work. Since WaterRower moved out last summer, the building has been vacant, he said.
Mr. Abbruzzi said the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which funds the authority, recommended two years ago that the authority sell the property. Though he declined to comment on the decision to purchase the property in the first place, he said HUD officials recommended the sale.
“I can’t talk about (the original purchase) because I was not here,” he said. But “it’s not feasible for housing, and we have really no use for it,” Mr. Abbruzzi said.
“HUD recommended that we dispose of the building and so we’re doing that.”