Weston Select Board picks White-Cook group to negotiate Case Estate purchase

WESTON -- April 29, 2026, Weston Select Board unanimously selects White-Cook group as preferred bidder for the historic Case Estate properties at a combined $2.45 million. The board voted April 29 to authorize preliminary negotiations with the group, Joe White, Evan White, and Brian Cook, whose offer of $900,000 for the barn and stable, $850,000 for the Rand House, and $700,000 for the schoolhouse topped a field of roughly ten respondents to the town's RFP. A review committee that included Select Board Clerk John F. McDonald, Member Alfred L. Aydelott, and Historical Commission co-chair Phyllis Halpern cited the group's financing strength, hands-on renovation experience, and unified vision for all three buildings as decisive factors. Competing bidders Steve Gaklis and Raul Khanna, present at the meeting, challenged the White-Cook renovation budget as unrealistically low, Khanna called a $1 million estimate for the 9,500-square-foot barn "roughly a hundred dollars a square foot" and said the numbers "just cannot seem to add up", but the board moved forward, with Member Alfred L. Aydelott noting that deed restrictions on each property protect the town's preservation interests through the negotiation and sale process.