Lynn armory losing major tenant

LYNN – The massive, castle-like armory overlooking Lynn Common could become largely unused once the Essex County Sheriff?s office completes plans to move a long-standing program out of the building.The armory?s condition is one of the reasons the Office of Community Corrections is moving to Salem in September or October, said Maurice Pratt, director of communications for Sheriff Frank Cousins.?The property is in poor repair and poor shape. We?re talking about a Civil War-era building,” Pratt said.The armory was actually built in 1894 and served the National Guard as a home for engineer and field artillery units. The Guard pulled its units out of the South Common Street structure in 2006, leaving Community Corrections as the armory?s primary tenant.Community Corrections provides drug testing, job training help, education equivalency programs and oversees community service work performed by criminal offenders. The Lynn center opened in 2001 and Pratt said 17 employees assist and supervise 1,700 to 2,100 individuals involved in the program every month.?It is part of the step-down process preparing inmates to help them with the transition back to society,” Pratt said.Proposals to tear down and build a new armory or construct a new one in another part of the city have been put forward throughout its history. A 1930 Item story dubbed the armory a “fire trap” and reported on an investigation into state legislators? efforts to get a new armory built. A similar discussion surfaced in 1986 and a 1999 discussion centered on opening a youth center in the armory.Guard members placed the armory on high alert during the 2001 terror attacks and, in addition to Community Corrections, it is used by the Registry of Motor Vehicles for driver road tests conducted in the armory parking lot.The state Department of Public Safety owns the building and spokesman Terrel Harris said the Guard will continue using part of the armory as a recruiting center.?There are no other plans at this point,” he said.