September 17, 2025 By Carol Britton Meyer
Dick Orr, who set up a cabinet-making business in the former DPW tree and park barn in Hingham Centre in 2012 through an agreement with the town, was disappointed to learn that his current lease – which expires at the end of September – will only be renewed until December rather than for the additional two years he requested. The lease has been renewed before.
While select board Chair William Ramsey called Orr “a wonderful model tenant for this municipal building [located at 8 Short St.],” he noted that one of the board’s goals over the past year has been “to figure out how to raise additional revenue to pay for capital and other needs without raising taxes. We’ve been hearing from citizens about the need to [do this] and to avoid another override.”
Multiple town-owned properties will be reviewed
Selling the former tree and park barn is one way to do that. At the same time, the board will be taking a look at multiple other, vacant surplus town properties that could potentially also be sold for much-needed revenue. Town Meeting approval is required to sell such properties.
“This is an historic building, and we might consider placing a historical preservation easement on it, so that any future owner would need to maintain its character, ” Ramsey said.
Revenue from the sale of surplus town property would go into fund balance – the reserve fund – from which funds have been withdrawn for a number of different purposes – including paying for capital needs – in recent years.
After asking for a two-year lease extension, Orr noted that efforts to sell the property failed at last year’s Town Meeting by a wide margin, with a number of supporters speaking against the sale.
At that time, a motion was made to modify the article in order to forbid the sale of the property until the end of the current tenant’s lease in September 2025.
‘We need to get the building ready to be sold’
“We will extend the lease until December, then we will need to get the building ready to be sold [before Town Meeting],” Ramsey said.
Calling himself “a major abutter” because he and his wife live next door at 17 Leavitt St., Orr said if that’s the plan, then the building will be vacant for a number of months “and will go downhill fast before it gets sold.”
His wife, Marybeth, asked what the board envisions for the property, to which Town Administrator Tom Mayo responded that the use would be determined through a Request for Proposals process and in compliance with town zoning.
“The building is in pretty bad shape,” she said. “It won’t bring in millions.”
She also noted the nearby dangerous intersection of Main/Middle/Short streets, where there have been numerous accidents — including one very recently — and that a roundabout is being proposed to make the area safer.
“Cars and trucks go by [the 8 Short St. building] so quickly, making it difficult for cars to pull out,” she said.
The select board vote was unanimous, with Julie Strehle and Liz Klein agreeing that the sale of surplus town-owned properties should be explored as a revenue source for the town.