PETERBOROUGH — A town plan to go to court to sell the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Hall for $100 is not being supported by the Charitable Trusts Unit of theNew Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, town officials say.

Selectmen Chairman Barbara Miller, though, said the plan is in the best interest of the town and in preserving the historic exterior of the building.

“I think this could be a historic opportunity to look at things differently and be more creative,” Miller said.

The approximately 3,100 square foot building was constructed in 1837.

From 1871 to 1889 it was used as the town high school, the Peterborough Academy.

After that it was renamed the G.A.R. — Grand Army of the Republic — Hall and was used as a meeting place for Civil War veterans.

Most recently the building, which has been town owned since 1899, had been rented out for many years to the Creating Positive Change Coalition, which used the hall as a teen center and meeting place for several community groups. As a teen center, the building was named Club Cannon, for the Civil War cannons that decorate the lawn of the property.

Creating Positive Change, though, lost funding to run the teen center program and moved out of the building last fall.

The teen center did not pay rent, but paid the cost of maintaining the building, Miller said.

Now the town is faced with the cost of mothballing the building, which is in need of about $400,000 in renovations, she said town public works employees estimate.

“Certainly the town doesn’t want to be in the position of being a rental agent,” Miller said.

Earlier this year the Select Board took bids on the building and after two public hearings accepted the only bid for $100.

The bidders, Jason and Rebecca Hackler, have agreed to maintenance the historic exterior of the building. The interior has already been blighted, said Miller, and has not historic features to preserve.

“There’s nothing historic about the inside of the building. It’s horrible,” Miller said.

The Hacklers plan to spend about $300,000 to renovate the building. The couple has also renovated another historic Peterborough building, the former Goyette Museum, which is now a residence.

“They have a history of taking buildings and restoring them. That’s been really important to us,” Miller said. “A $400,000 building on the tax roll would be very nice.”

However, accepting the bid means changing the trust the town signed in 1899 when it accepted the building.

Recently the Charitable Trusts Unit, though, has said it will not support the town in court, saying the town should put the building up for sale for a year at its assessed value of $172,000.

“They feel they represent the now dead people that created this trust and they want to put it on the open market,” Miller said. “We feel like we wouldn’t have much control if we put it on the open market.”

Miller said she also doubts it would sell. “Anyone who buys if for $172,000 would then have to pump $400,000 into it to make it usable,” she said.

Right now the board is considering four options; do nothing and take on the costs of mothballing the building, continue with the Cy Pres petition in court to sell the building despite the objection of the Attorney General’s Office, hold more public hearings and take input from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission or raise $172,000 at May town meeting to place in the trust allowing the $100 sale to the Hacklers to continue.

Miller favors continuing with the court petition because it would be an important precedence to set.

“We believe in the process that we used. That it’s really in the best interest of the citizens,” Miller said. “We also believe that many towns in New Hampshire are in similar situations.”

The board of selectmen has decided to obtain an independent estimate on renovation costs from an outside firm before making any decision, Miller said.

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Meghan Pierce may be reached at mpierce@newstote.com.