The once-shuttered doors of the Star Store opened to the public on Monday morning for the first time since the College of Visual and Performing Arts abandoned the building in August 2023. The nonprofit Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston has purchased the former UMass Dartmouth arts center and one-time department store and announced plans to redevelop the building into a downtown arts hub.

Walking into the building for the first time in almost two years, the student-turned-advocate Fallon Navarro said she was overcome with both painful memories and hopeful excitement. “The last time we were here, we were kicked out,” Navarro said.

Another former Star Store student, Anis Beigzadeh, said, “We’re getting back our home.” Her hands were shaking from emotion, Beigzadeh said, and she raised them up to show the tremors.

The 50 people who gathered to hear the announcement included artists, politicians, small business owners, and other community members. Matt McArthur, a consultant with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, told attendees that “world-class talent deserves world-class resources.”

“We are going to turn this building into a nationally recognized example” of artistic development and community collaboration, McArthur said. The Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC, as it was referred to during the announcement) has a track record of investing into artistic and cultural hubs, including the Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, a former mill building that became a home for more than 250 studios, 50 live-and-work lofts, a theater, and a brewery, according to A&BC’s website.

McArthur estimated that renovations (including to the roof, facade, mechanical systems, and elevator) could take around 18 months. But the full scope of the renovations will depend on community feedback. A&BC plans to gather community input on what new spaces and services the building should contain. (The announced website, starstorenb.org, was active as of this article’s publication.)

A&BC, which bought the building for $1, will take full responsibility for fundraising for the Star Store’s rebirth, McArthur said: “Our creativity is stacking various sources of capital.” For the Lowell project, that included private investors and loans. 

“They are a perfect fit for this project,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell. He anticipated that first-floor retail, performance spaces, and specialized studios would all be part of the new Star Store — enhancing “the arts corridor here on Purchase Street” in proximity to the new Zeiterion and downtown.

The drawn-out political fallout of the Star Store’s closure also reared its head. Mitchell said the city tried for a while to get the state to reverse the university’s decision to leave the Star Store campus. He also said the city also looked into what it would take to develop the building into housing or offices, but that the infrastructure didn’t accommodate those solutions.

“I know it’s still painful for a lot of people here,” Mitchell said. He added, “It doesn’t matter if it was someone else’s fault; it is our responsibility to fix it.” 

The deal that made the new Star Store possible

The building’s previous owner, the real estate developer Paul Downey, was not present at Monday morning’s announcement. It was only last Thursday that the complex deal to sell the building was finalized among Downey, the city, and new owners A&BC. 

Tony Sapienza, board chair for the New Bedford Economic Development Council, said it took a year for everything to come together — and several agreements needed to be reached among multiple parties.

Years ago, Downey had originally agreed to sell the Star Store building for $1 to UMass Dartmouth at the conclusion of the university’s lease. That, of course, never happened. 

In October, the city filed to foreclose on the Star Store in state Land Court, pursuing Downey for hundreds of thousands of dollars in back tax payments that it claimed he owed, The Light reported. Last week, a municipal lien certificate filed with the registry of deeds stated that Downey’s company had been billed $806,768 in taxes for 2023 to 2025, received $396,617 in “abatements/exemptions,” and resolved the debt with “payments/credits” of $406,702. The city moved to withdraw the Land Court case last week.

Mitchell said that Downey delivered a check to the assessors office to pay “approximately $500,000.” This amount represents a settlement agreement between the city and Downey that will avoid a lengthy adjudication process in court, Mitchell said. In return for this settlement, Downey agreed to sell the building to A&BC for $1 — which Sapienza said was “keeping his pledge” to donate the building to the city. 

As of Thursday, the city’s agreement with Downey, Downey’s sale to A&BC, and a partnership agreement between A&BC and the Economic Development Council were all finalized. 

Reaction to Boston investment in New Bedford

“For a lot of investors from Boston, [New Bedford] is seen as a place far afield,” said Mitchell during his remarks. But he told A&BC representatives, “This is going to be the best investment your nonprofit has ever made.”

The prevailing attitude among those in attendance on Monday morning was excitement for the Star Store’s return. Bubbling underneath that, however, were the strains of skepticism and regional pride that have marked the Star Store saga. 

“I’m fascinated by this because a Boston group is interested in New Bedford,” said Kat Knutsen, a local artist and art commentator. “What’s that relationship going to look like?”

Ethan de Aguiar, a founder of the New Bedford Film Festival, said he hopes the new Star Store is “for artists and by artists,” rather than run by “an organization that doesn’t care as much.”

He said he’s approaching the partnership with A&BC with “cautious optimism,” but he said that faith in large institutions is what led to the Star Store’s demise. “We shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.” 

State Sen. Mark Montigny expressed his hesitations with the deal, though he had no hand in making it. “While this transfer is an encouraging step forward, I am writing to you as the original legislative sponsor of this arts campus to express caution,” Montigny wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, which needed to formally approve the tax deal that precipitated the Star Store’s sale. 

“I urge your department to carefully scrutinize the current arrangement to ensure taxpayers and the Commonwealth are protected,” Montigny wrote. 

While the artists and politicians alike noted their hesitations, the overall mood could not be dampened. 

Navarro, the former Star Store student who orchestrated much of the activism around the Star Store, said that she had been in touch with A&BC when the campus first closed. She said she was excited that it was willing to take on the project. 

And, for the first time in years, Navarro was back in the building she had so long worked to restore to the artists of New Bedford.

For those efforts, Navarro received an unexpected shoutout from the mayor during his remarks: “What you did was fantastic for a lot of the students who were effectively kicked out of here,” Mitchell said. “I want to thank you for your advocacy — it really did make a difference.”

Email Colin Hogan at [email protected]