Steve Duprey is the owner and president of The Duprey Companies.

This week our company began the redevelopment of the property located at 20 South Main Street, the Norris House. While there has been a great deal of disappointment expressed about the razing, it is worthwhile to understand the history, process, and the efforts that were expended to save the house, if for no other purpose than to give guidance for the future.

In our 40 years of experience in Concord, we have saved many historic buildings. The redevelopment of the State Block and the preservation of the Hill building facade working for First Capital Bank in 1983, the 1875 Concord Central Fire Station, the former Dr. Strong’s office, the 1800s era house at the corner of Abbott and Manor Roads, are among many we have saved. More recently we restored the historic Eagle Hotel and we recently removed a modern-day eyesore building to showcase the historic Merrimack County Courthouse.

When we began to restore the former Norris bakery into the Bank of New Hampshire Stage we learned that we had to close the alleyway between that and the Norris house for 6 months. There was no way to construct the BNH stage and required second egress tower and keep the alley open. At the time, the Norris house was used by a not-for-profit organization, and the alleyway was the only practical means for loading and unloading goods at their site. Their leaders were concerned that closing the alley for construction could jeopardize their business. To avoid that bad outcome we were approached to buy the property. The assessed value was approximately $450,000. The property was encumbered by a significant mortgage, however, we agreed to pay approximately $800,000 to purchase the house. Doing so allowed us to save the historic theater and help a worthwhile charitable organization. The lesson there is that trying to save historic buildings often requires tradeoffs. The bakery building, while perhaps less architecturally significant, is historically far more important.

After completion of the BNH stage we undertook several studies to find an alternative use for the Norris house. First, we contemplated converting it into offices but found no market despite two years of marketing. Next, we did a study to see if the property could be turned into residential condominiums. Market research showed that no one wanted to own a condominium with ground-floor windows on Main, park in a garage across the street, carry groceries in the winter, and have a view of brick walls. Next, we did a study to determine whether we could create six apartments. The cost resulted in each apartment costing $300,000, and that was pre-COVID pricing. Those options were not financially viable — they would lose money forever.

Then, we studied moving the building. We approached seven potential sites within reasonable movable proximity, all of which were either not for sale or priced at over a million dollars: Main and Franklin, Main and 393, South Main- three locations, Storrs Street, and Constitution Ave.

We did find a viable site, on the corner of the former Lincoln Financial site on Penacook and Rumford streets where utilities could be moved, and the building could make the corners and turns. The cost for that move was $300,000.00.

We worked with Sarah Mathieu, who recently wrote about her efforts to save the house. She and two other developers were offered the house for free, $100,000 towards the moving costs, and a free piece of land to put the house on. Yet none of them could make any apartment project work that would be financially viable for them. Moving the structure was only one part of the cost; renovation and bringing the building up to codes is very expensive.

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Two years ago we approached the Heritage Commission and were asked to delay demolition to try harder to find a way to save the house. We spent the last two years doing so, during that time paying the cost of the mortgage, property taxes, and utilities. In total, we have spent four years on this effort.

By overpaying for the Norris House originally, to be able to build the BNH stage and not to negatively impact a worthwhile not-for-profit neighbor, restoration on site was not feasible. Even when offered a free lot, the Norris House itself, and a 100,000-dollar donation, no other developer could make restoration anywhere else economically viable.

While we understand those who are disappointed the house could not be saved, we hope they believe that far more than a good faith effort was made to save the house. More importantly, in this case where the choice could have been to keep the house as it was but to forfeit redevelopment of the Norris bakery into the BNH stage, I think the choice made was the better one for our community.