No major changes planned for this town landmark

Text By Ruth Melville
Photo Courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society

On Nov. 1, the Norfolk Foundation (NF) announced its purchase of the Royal Arcanum building on Station Place. The William and Mary Greve Foundation of New York, under its president, Tony Kiser, gave the foundation the money to purchase the building.

In a press release announcing the sale, NF president Libby Borden said, “Our NF mission has been to ensure the sustainability of the Town of Norfolk by supporting the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. . . . When the opportunity arose to buy and preserve the historic Royal Arcanum building, we grabbed it.”

The Arcanum building has been a centerpiece of Norfolk’s town center since its construction in the early 1900s (a drawing of it by Nina Ritson is Norfolk Now’s logo). The Pallone family had owned the property since 1951, but it had been on and off the market since 2016.

The building currently houses four commercial businesses on the ground floor—Wood Creek Bar & Grill, the Guilded Artisan, Boyce Nemec Design and the Healing Nest—one on the third floor, Icebox Tax Accounting, and five rental apartments on the second. The third floor also has a large open area, which was originally a small stage for the Masonic Lodge. 

As part of the plan for buying the building, the NF is going to sublease the five apartments to the Foundation for Norfolk Living (FNL) to be converted to affordable housing. Property management will be provided by Connecticut Real Estate Management. CREM is already managing the 12 affordable units FNL currently has in town.

In a recent conversation, Lisa Atkin, co-president of the Norfolk Foundation, said, “We need to find out, what do people want? What are people’s dreams for this fantastic place?” As part of that process, on Nov. 15 the NF held an informal meeting in the Hub to give current residents and commercial tenants in the building a chance to meet the new owners and management team. 

Speaking on behalf of the foundation, Joe Hurst told the group that no major changes or renovations were planned for the near future. The immediate first steps are to take care of safety issues, such as repairing the sprinkler system and the emergency lighting and dealing with electrical issues and heating problems. The goal, Hurst said, is to make sure the building is safe, stable and working the way it should.

Kate Johnson, president of the board of the Foundation for Norfolk Living, reassured the residents that there is no intention to replace any tenants. The FNL will be looking for funding for renovating the apartments, and then they will have to certify that the current residents qualify, but she expects that most of them will.

Johnson also introduced Tammy Broderick and Kimberly Erdely of CREM and encouraged the tenants to ask them for whatever help they need. Both Heidi Dinsmore, of Wood Creek, and Andrew Smith, of Boyce Nemec Design, said that they have found the CREM team to be easy to work with and quick to respond to requests.

Atkin said that the foundation was working on a new lease template and that the new routine will start up in January. She acknowledged that it might take a while for everything to be running entirely smoothly. “We’re all new at this,” she said, “but we’ll all be working together.”

In closing, Hurst said, “We’re all here to help. We want to make the building a better place to live in and work in, and better place for the community in general.”