Sale of Zion property in Barrington falls through

Town manager still hopes 39.5-acre parcel is turned into senior living facility

Posted 7/3/18

A plan to sell the former Zion Bible College property to a developer who was going to build a senior living facility has fallen apart, said Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha.

It had been …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Sale of Zion property in Barrington falls through

Town manager still hopes 39.5-acre parcel is turned into senior living facility

Posted

A plan to sell the former Zion Bible College property to a developer who was going to build a senior living facility has fallen apart, said Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha.

It had been reported late last year that the owner of the property — ShineHarmony LLC — had agreed in principle on the sale of the former college campus to a developer. At that time, Mr. Cunha said the two parties had signed a "letter of intent."

But the apparent deal to sell the 39.5-acre parcel did not work out, said Mr. Cunha in an interview late last week. 

"I think they're still trying to market it," he said of ShineHarmony officials, "but I'm not sure what they're asking for." 

The property, which is located in the north end of Barrington, has been vacant since officials from Zion Bible College relocated the school to Haverhill, Mass. ShineHarmony officials purchased the property at an auction in Oct. 2011 for $3.5 million, and four years later went public with plans to build an age-in-place facility on the property. 

ShineHarmony had partnered with the Peregrine Group to develop the plan for the continuing care retirement community. The original plan called for a 214-unit assisted living facility, 35 cottages, and 18 independent living units, 3 guest rooms and a number of common rooms inside Belton Court, which is a large historical residence located on the property.

Town officials worked with ShineHarmony and Peregrine Group to finalize a tax stabilization deal, but in Aug. 2017 town officials announced that ShineHarmony had canceled plans to build the retirement community. Shortly thereafter the property was listed for sale.

In Nov. 2017, town officials announced that ShineHarmony had signed a letter of intent to sell the property to a developer, but a few months later the deal was canceled. 

Mr. Cunha said more recently a real estate developer from Boston stopped by the town hall to discuss the former Bible college property. The manager said whoever buys the former college campus will need to demolish or renovate all of the buildings there. Mr. Cunha said the town's top priority for the property is to make sure the owners keep it safe and secure.

"Our secondary goal is to get it developed," he said. 

Officials from ShineHarmony have hired a security guard, who monitors the property. They have also boarded up some of the buildings in an effort to keep people from sneaking into the vacant structures. 

"There are still some issues that the state fire marshal's office is looking at," Mr. Cunha said.

The town manager said he is concerned about the condition of the Belton Court mansion, a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

"The question is now, whether it can be saved," he said. 

Mr. Cunha said he is still hopeful the property can, at some point, play host to a senior living facility. He added that he does not believe the town is interested in purchasing the property and constructing its own senior housing development.

The tax stabilization deal earlier struck between ShineHarmony and the town would still be available to a new developer, as long as the property is used for the same purpose, said officials.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.