Greenwich grad plans to build where arson destroyed the Wilmarth Bldg.

By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer

Michelle DeGarmo, a 1995 Greenwich Central School grad who is now president of Flatley Read, Inc. Environmental Consultants, plans a three story mixed use building at the downtown lot where an arsonist burned down the historic Wilmarth Building in February 2022.

“The idea is to create both residential housing and commercial space that is accessible for real people,” Ms. DeGarmo told The Chronicle Tuesday.

She said Flatley Read purchased the lot for around $40,000 last September.

They are planning a roughly 12,000 square foot building.

On the lower levels, “either two or four storefront spaces, depending on how much space the business wants to rent.”

She said this space will follow “the business incubator model where people can afford to start their small businesses and pay a reasonable price to own a business that can operate on a main street.”

The upper levels will have seven residential units.

Plus on the “basement walkout level, there’s going to be two flexible spaces that could either be office space…Or they could be studio apartments.”

The project has yet to formally go in front of the zoning board, Ms. DeGarmo says, so details could still change. The renderings, in particular, are preliminary.

Ms. DeGarmo, who lives “across the river” in Schuylerville, says this project comes out of her passion for Greenwich.

“The name of my company Flatley Read — that’s my maiden names. I grew up on the Flatley farm in Easton. And my grandparents Pearl and Harry Read lived up on Simpson Street behind the elementary school. This is my community. This is where I grew up,” she said.

Ms. DeGarmo said there is a need in Greenwich for this type of project.

“It’s increasingly harder for our young people to be able to stay after they graduate. The price of housing is just unattainable for a lot of our younger people.”

“I would like my kids to be able to stay near me. So I am trying to create something a little bit unique, where the rents are low enough to be accessible to regular people.”

This is a new step for Flatley Read, who do “Community Development and Environmental Services.” “We have never done capital projects before except as a member of a team,” Ms. DeGarmo said.

“We work primarily with rural municipalities and community based nonprofits, to bring the resources of the larger urban areas into the smaller communities.

“If you’re the supervisor or the mayor of a small town or village, you’re really good at what you’re good at. And you don’t necessarily have the resources to hire 10 new people to help you access grant funds or strategic planning,” she said.

The hole left by the fire pushed her to act. “We were so sad to see the Wilmarth Building burned down,” she said.

“Marta Ward, the owner of the Wil-marth Building, has been incredibly helpful and supportive. She brought me pictures, she brought me floor plans. She has been so supportive of what it is that we’re doing.”

An arsonist, John Fox, who was living in the building, pleaded guilty and went to prison for starting the fire.

Ms. DeGarmo said, “I am not a multimillion dollar developer. This is a new adventure for me, too.

“My fear was that some out of town developer was going to come in and either sit on the lot and leave it vacant, or 25 years waiting for Greenwich to be able to have Saratoga sale prices, or someone was going to come in and build multimillion dollar condos. Greenwich doesn’t necessarily need either of those.”

Ms. DeGarmo said as they were in the process of buying the building, they were “invited by the village to be a part of their Restore New York grant program, which was an amazing opportunity.”

Those Restore New York funds will “cover about 20-30% of the building.”

She said, “Where we’re at right now is securing other financing.”

Ms. DeGarmo said the project is expensive. “In-fill construction is one of the most expensive types of construction.”

What does she mean by in-fill?

“It’s a lot less expensive to start with a blank canvas, an open field where your infrastructure goes where you want… You have a lot more control over the dimensions and the design of the building.”

“Construction is expensive because we’re sharing walls with other buildings, we have to be very careful to not negatively impact the surrounding structures,” she said.

She has a timeline, though.

“The plan is to have all of the funding in place by the fall of 2024. But because it’s not ideal to do construction over the winter, we’re probably going to break ground in the early spring of ‘25.”

“I understand that, from a community perspective, two more years of staring at the empty lot on Main Street is not ideal. And I understand that there might be some disappointment in the community there.

“I think it takes time to do what we’re trying to do,” she said. “And I appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience as we navigate all of this.

“I’m not a giant developer, and I’m trying really hard to do something good for the community. And that takes time.

“I’m not Sonny Bonacio and I’m not going to show up with my heavy equipment next week and have a building up at the end of the month unfortunately.”

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