More News

Legacy Open Space is Montgomery County’s initiative to preserve the resources that set the county apart and enhance its appeal as a quality place to, live, visit, work and invest, according to Park and Planning. The program provides a framework for the strategic protection of open spaces, watershed lands and historic properties by purchasing land or easements.

Kelli Holsendolph of the Park and Planning Commission said that when Park and Planning acquired the 79-acre property, the most recent tenant was already in the building.

‘‘We honored his lease with the previous owner until it expired in April,” she said. ‘‘We offered fair market value, but our negotiations fell apart.”

Baldev Sondh, business manager of the beer, wine and deli store that recently closed, said he had been open at the site for more than nine years, but Park and Planning raised the rent this year from $1,265 per month to $3,500, making it unaffordable.

*All of the neighbors asked why we are closing,” he said. ‘‘It just wasn’t good business. The outside of the building looks nice, but the inside is falling apart. The crawlspace is full of poison ivy and 150-year-old trash. I can pay $3,500 a month for a nice store in a shopping center.”

Holsendolph said that Park and Planning staff is creating a Request for Proposal (RFP) to find a partner to occupy the building, but there is no clear timeline as to then that might happen.

‘‘We hope to get ideas for possible uses from the bids that come in, but it could be something such as a general store, a coffee house, an antiques shop or a small restaurant or sandwich shop,” she said. ‘‘The RFP will be for the building, but if ideas come in that include a use for the surrounding property, that would be considered, too.

‘‘We acquired the property for its historic significance, and it was always our intent to used it for public benefit,” she added. ‘‘Because it is part of the Legacy Open Space program, we want to keep it rural.”

Some type of beer, wine or sandwich shop has occupied the site for the past several decades.

According to the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission, James Holland, who became postmaster of Norwood, built the combination house and store in 1860. The post office was located in the store.

It is one of only three original general stores on the Master Plan of Historic Preservation in Montgomery County still in operation.

Although the potential uses may not have an interpretive component, Holsendolph said, it would still serve the public, but in a different way.

The adjacent Holland House and its surrounding property, currently operating as garden and landscaping business, is privately owned and was not included in the acquisition.