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Friday, August 10, 2001
Bucks County Courier Times
NORTHAMPTON
Landmark Restaurant to Make a Move
"The township-owned Spread Eagle Inn, once in danger of being demolished,
will get a new life as a result of the move this fall.
By James
E. Stanton
COURIER TIMES
jstanton@calkinsnewspapers.com
The
Spread Eagle Inn - rather, a rather scaled down version of it - will
move to a slightly new location this fall.
Early yesterday, the Northampton supervisors
gave the green light to the relocation. Accepting a 252,000 bid from
a Delaware County-based contracting firm.
David Connell, the township's consulting
engineer, said the firm would move the abandoned structure several feet
back from Richboro's heavily trafficked crossroads sometime this fall.
The two-century-old structure, which appeared
to be doomed early this year, was saved by the pleas a citizens committee
formed to save the inn and $425,000 in donations from two developers.
Connell said that a cinderblock addition
to the building, built in the last century, would be razed.
The contract also calls for the construction
of a new foundation and a basement, he said.
Freis Construction Management Inc. was
the only firm to make an offer, although several others had an interest,
Connell said.
For years the township-owned inn, a town landmark,
stood in the path of progress.
The relocation, about 15 feet back from
the intersection of routes 332 and 232, will allow the township to widen
the intersection, thereby relieving traffic bottlenecks at the crossroads.
Supervisor James Kinney said the bid was
"about $53,000 in excess" of what the relocation and related
construction costs were originally estimated to be.
Late last
year, the supervisors, impatient with the lack of offers to restore
the inn, set a March 15 deadline for demolition. Under pressure from
the citizenry and with the promise of a fundraising effort, the supervisors
relented.
At the forefront of the fund raising was Toll Brothers,
with a $400,000 donation to preserve the Spread Eagle. K. Hovnanian
builders pitched in with $25,000.
The other Supervisors
voting for the relocation were John Long, Arthur Friedman, George Komelasky
and Peter Palestina.
Click
any link below to read Historical
articles
from the Bucks County Courier Times
Group
wants to preserve
86-year-old school building
Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Home
Sweet Home
Sunday, April 18, 1999
The
Pleasant Plains Public School
Built
in 1871
People
Are Flocking to Northampton
Living with Past Choices
Monday,
May 24, 1999
Cornerstone
Reveals Old Memories
Friday,
July 23, 1999
History
Set In Stone
Sunday,
September 12, 1999
A
Tale of Two Buildings
Monday, September 3, 2001
A
Lightning Move for the Spread Eagle
Thursday, December 6, 2001
Spread
Eagle's Move Went Well
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
'Citizen
of the Month' Knows Her Town's History
Monday, April 8, 2002
Supervisors Preserve Spread Eagle, School
Thursday, April 11, 2002
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