Decision For Purchase Of Armory Building By The National Sailing Hall Of Fame Would Go By January

By January end, various officials from National Sailing Hall of Fame (NSHOF) and the Newport city are hoping to get the things final for the sale of municipal Armory present on lower Thames Street to the Hall of Fame. The closing of sale deal is taking longer than expected time, according to some.

On August, the City Council approved an agreement of purchase-and-sales for selling the main as well as second floors of building to Sailing Hall of Fame and it for $1.685 million. According to the agreement, until Nov. 8 the Hall of Fame had 90 days to undertake all the things related to buying the property which included liabilities reviewing like possible mould, asbestos and other items. On October 17, the board of directors of Sailing Hall of Fame has given the vote and it was 17-9 regarding the relocation of the hall from Captain Burtis House, which is a historic building in Annapolis, Maryland, to the historic Armory building in Newport, which is again a historic building. At the time, the executive director of Hall of Fame and also a renowned sailor Gary Jobson thought that closing of whole deal would get over by November.

But, it didn’t happen so. On Saturday he said, “This deal is in slow progress. And looking at the progress rate, it is expected that things will happen after the 23^rd of Jan.” He gave a reason for the delay in finalization of a deal and said, “Before this sale becomes official, there are many governmental procedures we have to take care of and this includes the fact that Rhode Island bears all the rights to refuse to acquire this property.” Under the agreement, the state holds first refusal right to buy the property again. Joseph J. Nicholson Jr., the City Manager has now sent a letter to the Department of Administration for taking written confirmation that the state does not have any interest in holding the property.