NEW SCOTLAND — The town’s extended deadline of Aug. 31 to move the historic Hilton LeVie barn from its home on Route 85A, where a housing developer plans to raze it, passed with no clear plan for the barn; the town is in negotiations with owners of the proposed new barn site, but the deal has not yet gone through, New Scotland Supervisor Thomas Dolin told The Enterprise.

“It’s still a fluid situation,” Dolin said.

“We’re hopeful and optimistic, but it is certainly far from done,” Mark King, executive director of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, told The Enterprise.

Near neighbors

“We’re looking for an acre or two,” Dolin said.

The town has been negotiating with two Hilton heirs who own property across the road from the barn’s current location.

Jennifer Hilton, who lives in Massachusetts, and her distant cousin George Kain, who lives in Virginia, co-own property; Hilton is willing to work with the town, but Kain “wants some kind of cash offer for the property,” Dolin said. “I’m going to call our attorney.”

“Mr. Kain has not specified what the payment is,” Dolin continued. “We’re assuming it’s $25,000. The problem for the town is where to get the $25,000.”

Kain could not be reached for comment but Hilton was enthusiastic, stressing the community, conservation, and historic aspects of the barn relocation and land sale.

"It is a candidate for the National Register of Historic Structures,” she said.

She also said, "I hope we are coming together with an agreement so the barn can be moved. It's an incredible structure. My great-grandfather built it.

"It is important personally. It is important for the community, and the success of the rail trail....I so very much want this to happen."

Asked about a timeline, Hilton said, "As soon as possible. I wish it had already been finalized. With two different parties involved, negotiating is not always easy."

Asked if it would be donated or sold, Hilton said, "It's kind of in the air."

She concluded, "I'm very enthusiastic. On all levels, I want this to happen. I regret that negotiations take longer than anticipated...We're doing our best. We want it to happen. It will happen."

Dolin said that the town is under a deadline.

“There are unresolved legal questions and financial questions,” he said.

Dolin said that the previous barn owner, Country Club Partners, is in the process of selling the land to a developer; a 16-lot housing development has already received town approvals. Dolin hopes that the new owner, rumored to be Traditional Builders, will give the town an opportunity to work out its negotiations with the Hilton heirs, he said.

A call and an e-mail to Traditional Builders were not returned before press time.

Months of work

Mark King, executive director of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, has been negotiating with Kain for several months, Dolin said.

King said that the conservancy made the initial contact with Hilton and Kain.

“She’s very enthusiastic about it,” King said of Hilton. “Both see it as an ideal, and a legacy to see the Hilton barn on Hilton lands.

“At this point, we don’t see a financial role in it,” he continued of his not-for-profit conservancy. “We’re trying to facilitate a land transaction, which is our area of expertise.”

Democratic County Legislator Herbert W. Reilly and Democratic County Executive Daniel McCoy — both of whom face challengers in today’s primary — have stated that they support the town’s efforts to save and relocate the barn before it is torn down for a housing development.

Dolin said that the town may ask the county to finance the cost of moving the barn — with grants or other methods — if the town secures, by donation, the property for the new barn location.

Relocation support

The massive barn, built in 1898, is 120 feet long and 60 feet high.

“To relocate it in any capacity…the budget for that is probably $500,000 to $700,000,” said former town councilman Daniel Mackay earlier this year. He has since resigned from his post for an out-of-state job.

Mackay, who previously served as the director of public policy at the Preservation League of New York State, said then that a reasonable use of the barn, or a serious buyer, had not come forward in the last year.

Randy Nash, a barn restorationist who has moved other historic barns, estimated last year that demolishing the LeVie barn would cost $5,000 to $10,000.

In the spring, County Executive McCoy told The Enterprise that the county was one of the parties interested in saving the barn from demolition.

“We’re looking at options of moving the barn to the Helderberg park or the Altamont Fair for economic development,” McCoy said, referring to the Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail that runs from Albany to Voorheesville and passes within a few thousand feet of the barn — ideas that had been dismissed in earlier discussions.

King said that the conservancy manages and operates portions of the Albany County’s rail trail between Delmar and Voorheesville through a lease agreement.

Volunteer trail ambassadors walk the rail trail weekly, King said, to take care of downed trees or trash.

“We really see this as a huge opportunity for the entire Capital Region to have a first-class rail trail,” King said.

This week, McCoy’s representative, Mary Rozak, told The Enterprise that money for the movement of the barn was not highlighted in the freshly proposed budget for next year, and probably not included.

“The county executive is certainly supportive of this, and of any initiative supported by the community,” she said.

“We’re doing our darnedest to find some solution to preserve the barn,” Dolin said.