Smithfield’s Town Council has drafted a contract that would sell the Smithfield Times building for 75% of its appraised value for conversion to a food, beverage and event space.

The town on Sept. 26 released the draft contract, which would sell the building for $400,000 to No Hassell LLC, a holding company owned by Jay and Amber Hassell, who co-own the Hamtown Mercantile multi-retailer venue across the street from the Times.

The Hassells were the higher of two bidders who responded to the town’s non-binding July solicitation of proposals. Mark Hall, CEO of Hallwood Enterprises, submitted the other at $325,000.

The proposed sale price is well below the $535,000 valuation appraiser Sinnen-Green Associates provided the town in March.

“We felt that we were OK with that because of the easement we have on the front of the property,” Councilman Randy Pack said at the council’s Sept. 23 committee meetings.

The town, which had concealed the appraised value during its solicitation of bids and originally said it would not disclose the appraised amount until after the property was sold, released the document concurrently with the draft contract on Sept. 26.

Pack said the appraisal did not take into account the impact of the town’s plan to reserve a permanent easement on the lawn of the property and the 37-foot-wide Main Street Square stage where the Isle of Wight Arts League and the Times host the Downtown Smithfield Summer Concert Series on Friday evenings. The appraisal report states it is “assumed that there are no adverse easements.”

The town, which used over $100,000 of its federal American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2023 to build the stage, would retain the right to schedule activities on the stage and front lawn provided it notifies the Hassells at least 60 days in advance, and would retain responsibility for maintaining the landscaping around the lawn and stage, per the contract terms.

The stage “will be owned by the purchaser with perpetual rights on the stage and front lawn reserved by the Town,” Town Manager Michael Stallings said.

Before the council can vote to sell the building, it must hold a public hearing on the matter, which is scheduled for Oct. 2 during the council’s 6:30 p.m. meeting. The draft contract stipulates delivery of the deed is to occur no later than 60 days after ratification of the agreement.

The Hassells’ bid proposed transforming the building into a “vibrant and family-friendly recreational and community event center in the heart of Smithfield” offering “a diverse array of food and beverages, coupled with exciting activities that celebrate our local community spirit.” The draft contract does not include any written prohibitions on how the building can be used once it changes hands.

The town paid Times Publisher Emeritus John Edwards $425,000 for the building in 2020 and over the past four years has recouped a portion of that cost by leasing a portion of the building for $1,200 per month to Smithfield Newsmedia, which publishes the Times, Slice of Smithfield magazine and related digital products. Smithfield Newsmedia owner Steve Stewart purchased the newspaper, but not the real estate, from Edwards in 2019.

Stewart said he offered to buy the building from the town at appraised value in February 2023 and reconfirmed his offer when contacted by the town in February of this year. He said he was en route to hand-deliver a bid on July 31 when a family emergency resulted in his missing the 3 p.m. deadline that day.

The matter has already drawn several comments at council committee meetings ahead of the scheduled hearing, including remarks by Edwards and Stewart on Aug. 26.

Pack, responding to Grace Street resident Mary Harris’ urging at the council’s Sept. 23 committee meetings to allow the Times to remain at the same location it’s occupied since its 1920 founding, said he remained disinclined to reject the apparent high bidder in favor of what he described as Stewart’s late-arriving bid.

“When we put this out for consideration we opened up the opportunity for anybody to bid on this building, anybody who wanted to,” Pack said. “The paper was aware of it, there was conversations between our town manager and the editor ensuring him that it was for sale and it was printed in his newspaper, so he knew what the process was. And so we’re trying to be very transparent about the whole action. So we have two people who bid on it, and Mr. Stewart, who admitted he missed the deadline, did not, regardless of his reasons.”

Pack then took issue with recent editorials in the Times.

“We have a paper that’s yelling at the Town Council about not being transparent, not following our processes, but the first time that the process doesn’t benefit him he wants to raise cain about it and say that he’s not being treated fairly, and I beg to differ with that, because we’ve got two candidates here that have made the time, that have done it,” Pack said. “Mr. Stewart was even contacted after the deadline to see where he was, if he had dropped it off at perhaps a wrong building. So I don’t understand that side. I mean, why should we change our policy to benefit the paper when the paper yells, ‘Don’t benefit anybody. Be fair, be open.’”

Stewart, who did not attend the Sept. 23 meeting, said Pack mischaracterized the Times’ position on the building sale.

“I have never complained about the bid process, nor suggested that my late-arriving bid on July 31 should be considered,” Stewart said. “As I told the council on Aug. 26, had that bid process resulted in taxpayers receiving more than market value for the property from a reputable buyer, I would not be there speaking to them. But the reality is that the high bid was far below the offer of appraised value that I first made to the town in February 2023 and that has been on the table for 19 months. As was stated prominently on the bid solicitation, the town reserves the right to reject any and all bids without reason. In this case, there’s a very good reason to do so. Taxpayers deserve to receive market value for this historic, prime property. The council has an opportunity to sell the property for what it’s worth, keep an iconic century-old business on Main Street and protect the community space, Times Square, that John Edwards so carefully cultivated over the course of four decades.”

Councilman Jim Collins said he too was not in favor of breaking with the request-for-proposals process.

“The only thing we had in front of us when we reviewed the proposals were two proposals. There was not a third proposal out there. … That process cannot be derailed just because we want to do something,” Collins said. “I mean, I know we can, it’s our decision, but in my opinion it can’t be arbitrary.”