Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor
Paul and Cairenn Spooner plan to renovate the historic 1873 Miles Thomas House on Main Street in Warrensburg now that their deal to sell it for a new Dollar General store was stymied. “We’re just as happy,” Mr. Spooner tells The Chronicle.
“We like the place, and our plan now is to renovate it.”
“We didn’t want it torn down,” Mrs. Spooner said.
“We’re going to convert it into apartments,” Mr. Spooner said. “It’s a five-year plan, and eventually there will be five apartments. We’re going to put in new windows and fix the porches. The reason we bought it was to do what we’re now again going to do.”
The Spooners live part-time in the first-floor apartment.
They bought the Victorian-style building from the town in 2017 for $105,100. It had housed the town’s senior center and the town historian’s office, but the Spooners planned to slowly bring it back to life.
Then in the same week, Paul was diagnosed with bladder cancer and Cairenn found out she needed both hips replaced.
Just months after they bought it, they listed it for sale. After 18 months of very little interest, Dollar General offered to buy the 147-year-old structure for the asking price of $139,900, planning to raze it and put a 9,100 square-foot store there.
Warrensburg’s Planning and Zoning Administrator Patti Corlew ruled that it was an allowed use, but town historian Sandy Parisi and her husband Steve challenged the ruling, arguing that the use planned in the hamlet was not allowed.
Many residents turned out opposing the Dollar General plan.
The Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-1 to overrule Ms. Corlew’s determination, and the deal was dead.
“The cost of doing business,” Mr. Spooner says now.
Now that their original plan is back on track, the Spooners just bought a vacant lot up the street and plan to build their retirement home there while renovating the Miles Thomas House.
“It’s a labor of love,” he said. “You’ve got to want to do it.”
The Spooners bought the building from the town at auction for $105,100 after the town engineer estimated it would cost $300,000 to bring it up to acceptability.
The only other bidder offered $1.
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