The state has reissued a call for proposals to restore several dilapidated historic structures in a Newburyport state park, more than a year after a previous plan went up in flames.

When a fire in Maudslay State Park turned a former stable that was to be part of a health and wellness retreat center into ashes, staff were forced back to the drawing board to try and find a reuse as ideal as the retreat center idea.

Now, four properties in the southwest area of the park, known collectively as the coachman’s complex, are back out for lease through the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Historic Curatorship Program. The initiative allows private caretakers to rehabilitate, reuse and maintain the properties to make them “living buildings,” according to the program manager.

DCR wants to see proposals that will really revitalize the properties, while allowing for a commercial venture to act as a revenue stream to help fund maintenance and operation of the four-property complex.

Strings Attached

The coachman’s complex includes original structures from the early 1900s-era, 480-acre estate once owned by the Moseley family on the south bank of the Merrimac River. Designed by Boston architect William G. Rantoul, the shingle-style house is situated on a wooded, hilly parcel near the family’s teahouse, boathouse and pumphouse, comprising the recreation area of the country estate, surrounded by mature hardwoods, mountain laurel and rhododendrons. The gardener’s house is still in the park, and the forester’s house is privately owned. The Moseley mansion itself was demolished in 1955.

There are a variety of potential uses for the property – but there are also restrictions.

For starters, the park is reputedly beset by the supernatural. According to some sources, it has not one, but two, “gates to hell” within its borders, and has left visitors with a feeling that evil was lurking about them in the woods.

But beyond the spiritual, there’s the practical. Whoever signs on would have a maximum 40-year lease for the four-bedroom main house and nine or 10 years for the outbuildings. If someone can justify the need for a longer lease, the commonwealth will consider that, said Kevin Allen, the historic curatorship program manager. A shorter lease could also be considered.

The curator could live on-site, but since there’s a good deal of acreage to care for, it would make sense to have an income producing element, Allen said. Since it’s right on the river, an operator could rent boats or kayaks, or mountain bikes for the public to ride through the park’s trails. The teahouse could be rented out for private events. Or someone could open an ice cream shop and bookstore, Allen said. As long as the uses are compatible with the atmosphere of the park and surrounding area, it would be considered, Allen added.

But the process isn’t cheap.

The properties are in poor condition, to say the least. The main house in the complex has not been occupied since the mid-1990s, and would require installation of a Title 5 septic system. The heating and electrical systems will have to be repaired or replaced. The interior and exterior need rehabbing.

All told, the state estimates adequate repairs to the house alone would take more than $1 million. With the other three structures included, that price tag rises closer to $1.6 million. If there’s a higher use with accessibility or structural code issues, that would put the cost at about $2 million.

Many times, the curators are people who have recently sold a home or business and have funds they can leverage for the renovations, Allen said.

“It’s a very unique property and any reuse would have to think long-term sustainability for down the road because of the amount of work needed,” Allen told Banker & Tradesman. “If there is no reuse it’ll just fall back into decay.”

A Niche Market

The coachman complex properties are the latest state park properties designated for redevelopment. There are currently 17 others operated in some way as private enterprises or residences.

The largest private enterprise is Bascom Lodge, a mountain lodge atop Mount Greylock – the state’s highest peak – and a popular stopping point for both day hikers and thru-hikers walking the Appalachian Trail that traverses Greylock. Anywhere from 150,000 to 175,000 visitors pass through the front doors of Bascom Lodge every five-month season.

The stewards of the lodge, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, are in the midst of a major renovation that will weatherize the property against wind, rain and fog. The project, undertaken by the caretakers that became the property’s curators in 2009, also includes new historically accurate doors and windows and a new maple floor.

Bascom Lodge already had a café and restaurant, so “there was cash flow before we even opened the door,” said chef and curator John Dudek, one of the principals that operates the property.

“We rent it out for weddings and corporate events, and for local educational institutions,” Dudek offered. “That money is recycled into the restoration of the lodge. Until the project is complete, the lodge doesn’t see a profit, it just goes back into the building. When we’ve meet all the restoration goals the state laid out, then we begin to accumulate profit.”

But a similar use might not be ideal for Maudslay State Park. The area is “totally off the beaten path,” according to Ann Ormond, president of Newburyport’s Chamber of Commerce.

Ormond said a spa or bed and breakfast could be the most successful businesses to operate in the park. The park could also be made appealing as a four-season destination, if customers were offered snowshoeing or cross country skiing rentals to explore the park as a winter wonderland – which people already do on their own.

“It’s a real niche market of things that could go out there,” Ormond opined. “You need someone … with a little vision, and it seems something like that would take a lot of money to make it work at that level. Maybe someone that already has a spa somewhere and wants a second location for high-end clientele might work out there.”