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A few clouds. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.

John Getchell, owner of the Blue Benn, has purchased a commercial building on South Street and plans to renovate the structure as a mixed-use facility.

John Getchell, owner of the Blue Benn, has purchased a commercial building on South Street and plans to renovate the structure as a mixed-use facility.

BENNINGTON — The owner of the Blue Benn Diner has purchased a commercial building on South Street and plans to change it into mixed-use facility.

John Getchell said Thursday he intends to convert the metal-sided building at 511 South St., which once housed a Salvation Army thrift store and other businesses, for retail, residential and commercial kitchen space.

“One use is residential,” he said. “I am going to create a first-floor apartment where I’ll live.”

That will be at the rear of the approximately 40-foot by 100-foot building, which stretches back from the street and also includes a basement level, he said.

In a middle section, Getchell said, he plans “a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen” to greatly expand the limited space available at the Blue Benn at 314 North St.

The new kitchen will allow “everything we can’t do at the Blue Benn,” because of space constraints, he said.

“We do a lot of bake goods,” he said, and that could be handled at the new facility.

Preparing food for dinner menu meals is another possible use, he said, which would allow that to be done off-site. Catering also would be handled through the new facility.

The front section of the building will be for retail uses, Getchell said, and he has a preferred business if a required zoning variance can be obtained — a barber shop.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to said a town this size needs a barber shop,” he said, especially since longtime Bennington barber shops have closed in recent years.

“Or, you could ask your readership what people would like to see in that area of town,” he said.

Getchell said he also has plans to upgrade the exterior of the building, adding, “It’s going to be something to catch the eye.”

“It’s a peculiar building in a lot of ways,” he said, but “it’s really a very, very solid building.”

Getchell’s Tumblehome LLC purchased the South Street building earlier this month from the Salvation Army for $91,250.

Records show the building was constructed in 1968/1969 by Northern Terminals Inc., according to Bennington Assessor John Antognioni.

The building housed a gas station and convenience market in the late-1970s and early ’80s. It was purchased by the Salvation Army in 1985.

Getchell, who said he remembered going to the Blue Benn while a student at Bennington College in the 1980s, stepped in to purchase and preserve the iconic diner in 2020, after it was placed on the market by longtime owners, the Monroe family.

Jim Therrien writes for Vermont News and Media, including the Bennington Banner, Manchester Journal and Brattleboro Reformer. Email jtherrien@benningtonbanner.com

Jim Therrien reports for the three Vermont News and Media newspapers in Southern Vermont. He previously worked as a reporter and editor at the Berkshire Eagle, the Bennington Banner, the Springfield Republican, and the former North Adams Transcript.

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