Overview:

The Athol-Orange Housing Authority (AHA) has purchased the former offices of the Athol Daily News at 225 Exchange St. for $385,000 and will use it as its new office. The purchase will allow the AHA to relocate its offices and provide more space for housing at Morton Meadows. The renovation of the building is in the early stages of planning, and funding will be provided by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Athol-Orange Housing Authority Director Evelyn Perez stands behind what was once the customer service desk at the former Athol Daily News building at 225 Exchange St. The AHA recently purchased the building and will use it as its new office. GREG VINE / For the Athol Daily News

ATHOL – The former offices of the Athol Daily News at 225 Exchange St. have been purchased by the Athol-Orange Housing Authority and will soon become its new offices.

In September 2025, the housing authority purchased the building that once housed the Athol newspaper. The AHA paid $385,000 to the former owner, Athol Press, Inc., represented by Richard Chase, Jr.

Evelyn Perez, the executive director of the housing authority, said ownership of the building will allow the agency to relocate its offices and provide more space for housing at Morton Meadows, one of the housing facilities the AHA runs, and also home to its office.

“This will give people who work in the office more space,” she said during a quick tour of the building. “And, with greater demand for affordable housing, it’s important that we free up the current office space for people who need someplace to live. But this is an iconic building in Athol. I’m glad we were able to get it.

“Right now, we’re pretty much sitting on each other’s laps,” she added. “There are seven of us here in what was made to be an apartment. We still haven’t hired a service coordinator because we don’t have any room for them here. There will be space for everyone at the new building.”

Perez added that the new offices constitute Phase 1 of the planned renovations for the Daily News building.

“We’re hoping in Phase 2 that we can create some community space for the residents,” she said.

Owned by Newspapers of New England, the Athol Daily News is a source of local news in the North Quabbin Region of central Massachusetts. It was founded in 1934 by Lincoln O’Brien with the merger of two weeklies, the Athol Chronicle and the Athol Transcript. O’Brien sold the newspaper to Edward Fairchild in 1940. In 1982, Fairchild sold it to Richard Chase, Sr.

The building, constructed in 1942, had been in the Chase family since 1982, and closed in December 2019.

The Daily News covers Athol, Erving, New Salem, Orange, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Warwick and Wendell.

“With HLC’s (Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities) big push for housing, this will open up three more units at Morton Meadows,” AHA Maintenance Director Nick Tarara said of the move. “This place happened to be dead center between the authority’s farthest properties in Athol and Orange.”

He said the push to purchase the building began under previous AHA Executive Director Chrisi Martin, adding with a grin, “She told me to do it.”

“We’re still in the very early stages of planning,” he added. “What we are able do here all depends on the funding we have. The most important thing is to actually relocate here so that we can open up those other units for housing.”

Funding for the move and renovation of the space will be provided by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Tarara added, “We’re only in the study phase of this with the architect (Nault Architects of Worcester). Everything is going to have to be approved by HLC. They’re the ones who are providing the funding for this. So this is really in their hands at this point.”

Before purchase of the building was finalized, said Tarara, there were multiple visits by representatives of HLC to review the site.

Tarara said the start of the building’s rehabilitation depends on when the funding is provided.

“I wouldn’t even spit out a number regarding how much renovations will cost until the architect is done with his investigative study,” he added.

The authority operates 93 units of housing in Athol and 64 in Orange. In addition to Morton Meadows, units on Patridge Court, Ferron Circle, Kennebunk Street, Park Street, and the Lakeside Apartments are managed by the authority in Athol. Orange facilities include Colonial Acres and MacIntosh Court.