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.