Demolition contract awarded for former Mug Pub

MILLVILLE — A Mendon-based construction and excavation company has been awarded a contract to demolish the former Mug Pub property on Central Street, which is slated to come down within the next three weeks.

At a meeting Monday, the selectmen unanimously voted to award a demolition contract to low-bidder Tetreault, Inc., which submitted a bid of $31,500. The highest bid received by the town was $39,000.

Tetreault crews will demolish the condemned building by the end of December then come back in the spring to remove the asphalt parking lot.

Special town meeting voters last month approved a deed in lieu of foreclosure agreement between the town and the property owners, which allowed the town to take possession of the property.

The boarded-up building and dilapidated property at 3537 Central St. has been vacant for more than 15 years and is one of the town’s biggest blights. Approval of the deed in lieu of foreclosure agreement was needed to allow the town to demolish the building.

According to Town Administrator Jennifer M. Callahan, an inspection of the building has determined that there is no asbestos or other hazardous material inside or outside the property.

The tax-title property is not only a major eyesore, but a public safety hazard, Callahan said. The town has cordoned off the property with orange highway barrels to prevent pedestrians from using the sidewalk in front of the building and motorists from using the parking lot.

The 6,216-square-foot

mixed-use building is zoned residential/commercial. The first floor housed a tavern years ago and then became Benoit’s on the Hill, a family restaurant that was in operation in the 1950s and 1960s. The restaurant later became known as the Candlewood Restaurant in the 1970s and 1980s.

The restaurant was ran and operated under other names and owners as well, including Suzanne’s Inn and Fieldstones before it became the Mug Pub. The building sits on 0.118 acres and the value of the structure is listed at $192,500.

The demolition work would be paid for with grant money Callahan was able to secure through the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office Abandoned Housing Initiative Strategic Demolition Fund, which has awarded the town a matching grant of up to $20,000.

Millville was one of only four communities in Worcester County to get the grant, which funds strategic demolition projects across the state in an effort to help communities reduce blighted properties.

Municipalities that apply for funding must demonstrate an immediate community need for demolition and an absence of any other viable remediation measures for the property. Those applying must also show plans for post-demolition site redevelopment.

Callahan said the former Mug Pub property has been an eyesore and public safety hazard for years. In 2013, the town’s building inspector and zoning enforcement officer found the building to have serious code violations.

The town has been trying to address the blighted 35-37 Central St. property for years, but it was Callahan who put it on the fast track after the town was awarded a $1 million MassWorks grant for a $1.3 million town project to reconstruct Central Street from the intersection of Ironstone Street and Bow Street to the Providence Street intersection.

Central Street is the town’s most traveled road, spanning Lincoln Street to Providence Street near the Rhode Island town line.