Trustees Buy Land for Building Options
A typical day on the western corner of Water Street starts with the smell of fresh cinnamon buns from St. Anthony’s Bakery and the sound of the humming of razors from Jim’s Barber Shop. However, since the Academy’s trustees first signed the right to purchase the property in 2005, the future of the beloved businesses on this small block belongs in the hands of Phillips Exeter Academy’s trustees.President of the Trustees Tom Hutton said that the Academy was initially interested in the land stretching from the ITS center to the Saltonstall Boat House for several different reasons.First, as the Academy already owned the land on both sides of the property--on one side, the building and land housing IT Services, and on the other side the PEA Boathouse–the Trustees “considered it to be a natural long term goal to own the full parcel, so that we may have more flexibility in its use,” he said.After the Trustees’ visit two weeks ago, Hutton also commented on the potential uses of the land in the near future. He noted the possibility of the construction of a new Performing Arts Center on the newly purchased land.“As Mr. Hassan has recently announced, this is one of two locations currently under consideration for the construction of the proposed Performing Arts Center,” Hutton said.Hutton said that although the school will not announce the preferred location until extensive work is done by architects, Facilities Management and the town planners, the block at the end of Water Street is a strong possibility.“The Water Street location is quite attractive for many reasons,” he said.Regardless of the upcoming decision on the relocation of the Fisher Theater, the future of the two businesses’ remains uncertain.“The existing tenants may remain in the building, until we decide to do something else with the space,” Hutton said. “This may be one or two years, or it may be several.”Anthony Antosiewicz, the owner of St. Anthony’s bakery, a popular destination that has served the Exeter community since 1978, is happy with the bakery’s space. He hopes that the current location will not change.“I’ve been renting from the Academy since I owned it,” Antosiewicz said. “The guy who had the bakery before rented from the Academy, and the woman who originally turned it into a bakery from a clothing store in 1978 rented from the Academy as well,” Antosiewicz said. “The only thing I could say is that I’m very happy here running the bakery at this location, and I hope to remain running the bakery here for quite a while.”Along with St. Anthony’s, Jim’s Barber Shop would be relocated as well. The owner of the shop has worked in the town for decades. Since the opening of the shop over 50 years ago, he has served students, World War II veterans and residents of Exeter, and his enterprise has become a key part of the town.Students shared their opinions about the news of the possible relocation of local businesses.Upper Emily Lemmerman described her penchant for St. Anthony’s, adding that the bakery is very popular among Exonians.“I love the bakery and I think it is relatively popular among students, more so among faculty, and very much in town,” she said.She added that the potential disruptions are unfortunate but fair.“The school does already own the land, and I certainly hope the school will help [the bakery] rebuild elsewhere. I'm glad that something is being done about the theatre, but St. Anthony’s Bakery will definitely be missed in that prime location,” Lemmerman said.While Exonians would greatly benefit from a renovated Performing Arts Center, the construction could have negative effects for the town of Exeter, such as disruptions to customer flow for local merchants and the town’s economy and traffic.Hutton recognized the potential problems and claimed that the Academy would continue to hold careful discussions with the architects and the town in order to minimize the disruption.“We will do our best to provide as much forewarning as we can, and we will also do our best to accommodate or help these businesses find other space” he said.In addition, Hutton spoke of the importance of maintaining a positive relationship with the town.“The Academy enjoys an excellent relationship with the town of Exeter and the local merchants, and we work hard to earn and maintain it,” Hutton said. “In this case, there were steps taken and there are future steps to be taken.”Despite the theatrical needs of the student body, Upper and co-head of DRAMAT, Jad Seligman disagreed with Hutton, saying that the forced relocation of local merchants would worsen the “already bad relationship” of the town and the Academy.He added that the land under the bakery is not an ideal location for the new performing arts center.“If there’s an alternative place that they could construct the new performing arts center, I don’t see the reason behind building it in the land where St. Anthony’s bakery and the barber shop is,” he said.“Other than giving some utility to people who live on Main Street, I don’t really understand why they would put it that far off, because it’s far away from most parts of the campus,” Seligman added.Despite the dispute of location, most students agreed that a new performing arts center would benefit the Academy. Upper and co-head of DRAMAT Josh Martinez listed the benefits of a new theater.“With more space, more people will be able to enjoy performances [and] there's also potential for more community involvement,” he said.Nevertheless, Martinez identified the emerging issues that arise from the need for a new performing arts space. He said that although he doesn’t frequent either the bakery or the barbershop, he knows a lot of people in the PEA community and the town of Exeter do. “It's definitely a conflict of interests,” he said.