Mendon auto dealer buys Uxbridge's Bernat Mill site
Photo | Grant Welker
The former Bernat Mill in Uxbridge
Photo | Grant Welker
Photo | Grant Welker
Photo | Grant Welker
Photo | Grant Welker
Photo | Grant Welker
Kevin Meehan, the owner of the Imperial automotive chain and a Mendon businessman, has bought the site of the former Bernat Mill in Uxbridge that burned down in 2007.
Meehan bought the site in a $1.3-million deal including the eight-acre mill site at 19 Depot St., which has several remaining buildings, and a small vacant adjacent storefront at 15 Mendon St. that has previously hosted a gift shop and a vitamin supply store, and stands just on the other side of the Mumford River from the mill.
Meehan bought the sites from two businessmen who owned the site since before the fire: John Tweed III and Leonard Fournier. The deal closed Sept. 15.
The Bernat property, also known as the Capron mill, was almost entirely destroyed in a 2007 fire, with some brick walls remaining, including a soaring entrance way still holding the company's cursive logo. The rear of the structure still stands over a span of the Mumford River. The building had dozens of commercial tenants at the time of the fire.
The mill dates to 1820, according to a history by the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, and operated for the longest stretch — from 1910 to 1962 — as the Uxbridge Worsted Co. Dyes used during manufacturing were emptied into the river below after use. The company was sold to Emile Bernat and Sons Inc. in 1962, according to the heritage corridor.
A three-story red Colonial-style building stands next door, hosting a consignment shop and fitness center, and a smaller building hosting a spa. Both were part of Meehan's purchase. In total, the properties included in the sale were last assessed by the Town of Uxbridge at more than $2.2 million.
No plans have been filed for the site, which its in a zoning overlay district, said Michael Gallerani, the director of Uxbridge's Department of Economic Development and Community Planning. The town, he said, approaches new development as a team, with planning and zoning departments together with police, fire and other safety departments to better coordinate a permitting review process.
Meehan didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Monday.
The businessman went on a buying spree last year, including nearly 11 acres of commercial real estate on Main Street in Medway for $4.3 million, a 90,000-square-foot office building at 9 Industrial Road in Milford for $5 million, and a site of a planned 268-unit residential project called Brookview on East Main Street in Milford near the Holliston line for $3.4 million. He sold the Grand View wedding and event venue in Mendon for $4.1 million.
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I think the only right thing to do is to help the businesses that didn’t get insurance before that place got burnt down and lost everything they had worked for in their entire lifetime gone in an instant. I know I’m not the only business owner that devoted my entire life to building, contructing, and opening my own business, single-handedly over the course of a few years before I even open the doors to my recording studio, and instantly was a success with all of the band practice space in the same area of the building took me a long time to build literally by hand myself. I filed my insurance paperwork out and had planned on handing it to the recommended agent from the old owners at the time of the fire, and it burned down right before I was scheduled return the signed policy. There was a Town meeting a few weeks after the fire that initially was geared towards helping the tenants who did not have insurance coverage but that meeting quickly got turned into the accuracy of the fire chiefs, report and findings on actual cause. Which I still have no idea what the actual cost of that fire was because I’ve heard such vast different unrelated stories I have no idea, but I do know that the initials report I have never seen East Coast welding working after hours, and I only was allowed to work after hours playing music there. I was allowed to play music at loud volumes, opposite hours of normal work schedule so I would see if they were as other tenants present and over the approximate 10 year period that I was there. I have never seen anybody welding after hours, but hey, I only lost $250-$300,000 worth of uninsured nightclub equipment that I’ve worked my entire life for.
He donated millions to build a new addition to the Milford Hospital.
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