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By MICHAEL SOUZA
NARRAGANSETT – Six full months after being put up for sale, the future of the Our Lady of Peace property is still a mystery. The parcel remains in the ownership of the Diocese of Providence. Carol Ann Nelson of the Dioceses’ building commission didn’t have much to say on the status of the offers, if any were even made.
“With real estate, nothing is final until the documents are signed. Until that happens things are uncertain, so prefer to decline on any statement. I will say, though, that there is a lot of neighborhood interest on the site,” Nelson said. Town officials are equally as curious as to the fate of the historic property. And while some residents would like to see its secluded character remain unchanged, the town cannot purchase the estate. “There’s no way we could come up with that kind of funding. We do hope to work with the owner to steer it towards a suitable use in the area,” said Director of Community Planning Michael DeLuca. He also stated the value of the property would overwhelm the town land trust, and speculated that kind of investment would have to originate from a larger organization. The former retreat is assessed at a value of $7.9 million, not bad for an investment of $50,000 in 1951. How it came to own the property is an interesting story and one that is only now coming to light. An ad-hoc group called Friends of Hazard Castle has been in touch with relatives of the property’s previous owner and has obtained letters detailing the origin of the retreat. The estate was put at auction in August of 1951 and was purchased by Bill Halloran, a Sand Hill Cove resident. In a November 1998 letter to the Providence Visitor, Rhode Island’s Catholic newspaper, Halloran wrote a tribute to Msgr. Brock, a personal friend who had just passed on. In it, Halloran describes how the two negotiated the property transfer that began the retreat. As he tells it, Halloran went merely as an observer to the auction but wound buying the entire property for $50,000. At first he had no idea what to do with it. “I later decided that I would develop it, and talked to some friends who were interested in buying a parcel,” he wrote. Several weeks later he was approached by Brock and another church member who floated the idea of making the property a retreat. A religious man, Halloran considered the thought and eventually met with Bishop McVinney. “I could not afford to give it to the Diocese,” he wrote, “but I would sell it to the Diocese for the same price I bought it for, $50,000, with the provision that it would always remain a retreat house. He agreed.” If the arrangement was indeed made, it was left as a simple understanding. A title search on the property indicates no formal written agreement or conservation easement. Halloran passed away in 2005. His widow, now 92, lives in Texas, as well as their daughter Patricia Halloran Delgado. Locally, the transfer of the property to the church went almost unnoticed. The Narragansett Times made note of the event on page 11, in its realty transfers column, three weeks later. “Halloran Realty Co. to Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, tract with buildings and improvements on west side Ocean Road, designated ‘The Castle.’” The future of the property is still unclear, its fate in the hands of its current owners.
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