Armory tour this morning showed renovation will be tough

In its glory days, the old Armory hosted everything from circuses to stag parties.

Bristol High School played its basketball games in the massive indoor parade ground that military formations used on weekends when Army reservists gathered.

For decades, the massive brick structure at 61 Center Street was a key piece of a thriving community.

Now it’s an empty hulk, with peeling paint, water-stained walls and a sort of creepy emptiness.

Whether it will ever be something useful again may become clear after the January 29 deadline for the state Department of Public Works to receive proposals from anyone interested in buying the structure.

About a dozen men toured the place Thursday morning, herded from old ammunition lockers to a ransacked kitchen to the vast hall that features a stage on one end and a basketball court in the middle.

Read the rest in Friday's Bristol Press. I'll put a link up when it becomes available.

*******
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com