BRUNSWICK

Members of the Brunswick Development Corp. are saying a decision to give a $15,000 grant to partially fund a study for the eventual redevelopment of the Knights of Pythias Hall still aligns with a newly adopted policy of only giving loans — not grants — to forprofit entities.

Wyler LLC owns the Lemont Block on the corner of Maine and Pleasant streets and is a for-profit company.

The grant given Monday was to a nonprofit intermediary, Maine Preservation, in order to study the feasibility of converting the upper floors of Lemont, including the hall, into an event and performance space.

The nonprofit Maine State Music Theatre is also involved in the project in an advisory capacity. The grant proposal states MSMT may also host future events and performances at the space. However, the proposal also notes other functions may take place at the hall.

“At the center of the Lemont Block Downtown Project is the desire to create a space for the arts that caters to and works in concert with the varied interests of the community,” reads the proposal, in part. “In particular, there is the desire to create a use that will complement Brunswick’s burgeoning ‘foodie’ trend. Anyone who has seen the original Knights of Pythias Hall on the second floor of the Lemont Block can see its potential. An event/performance space with a catering kitchen for exhibits, meetings, conferences, music or dinner theater, in the heart of the Downtown, would give the local restaurants a chance to augment their catering, sit-down and takeout business … yearround.”

The BDC’s vote to approve the $15,000 grant, which requires equal matching funding, was 3-2.

“I was very torn,” said Vin DiCara, the BDC’s treasurer, who voted in favor of the grant.

DiCara said he was swayed by the participation of MSMT and Maine Preservation in the project.

Speaking Wednesday, DiCara said there was also precedent in a decision made in April to give a $15,000 grant to the Brunswick Farmers’ Market Association. The association is nonprofit and the grant will be used in plans to renovate a freight shed in which a future year-round market could be held. However, the shed would be leased from Brooks Feed & Farm, a forprofit business.

When asked if the BDC had any recourse if Wyler LLC chose not to use the space as proposed to the board, DiCara said, “In reality, probably not.”

However, DiCara noted that the feasibility study requested was “clearly geared” toward making the hall available to nonprofits.

Board members Dan Harris and William Morrell were the two members who voted against the grant. They instead advocated a loan that could have been repaid through eventual revenue earned at the hall.

Board member Sarah Brayman said the grant was a “less-complicated” approach than a loan.

Brayman noted there may be a “slippery slope on either side” of the issue, but that the proposal clearly had a large enough nonprofit component to it that earned her support.

Brunswick Business Development Manager Linda Smith noted that the finished project will have to come as a form of an LLC, or it will not be eligible for historic preservation tax credits, which the project’s partners say is vital for completion.

Smith also noted the community benefit in having Maine State Music Theatre performances in that space.

The BDC adopted the grant policy in March, a decision made, in part, to try to conserve dwindling financial resources.

Harris said the BDC doesn’t want to revisit the policy.

“I think members of the board are very sensitive to the fact that we have a policy in place, and I don’t think it’s going to set a precedent,” said Harris. “The majority felt the vote was an appropriate one. What’s done is done.”

As of June 16, the BDC had total assets of about $1.5 million, of which about $476,000 consisted of cash on hand. That’s down from almost $2.2 million in net assets this time last year.

“When you’re low on funds you want to look carefully with what you’re doing with those funds,” said Harris. “That’s what stimulated the review of that policy. … I think we all agree that it was a wise policy.”

“The BDC has a mission,” Harris continued. “We are all struggling to carry out that mission in the most effective way we can. … It’s the public’s money we’ve got. We have to treat it as the public’s money, and what’s in the public’s interest, as defined by our mission.”

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com