ZEKE WRIGHT

Staff Writer

CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. -- The former Vermont Timber Frames property in Cambridge exchanged hands last month, transferring to a local business catering in organic body care products.

Andre Mathieu, operations manager at Common Sense Farm, said the recently acquired building at 7 Pearl St. would serve as new warehouse space for the religious community’s soap and body care products business. He said Common Sense had been renting warehouse space at Varak Park for more than a decade. The new building has higher ceilings and expansion potential, he said.

"It’s going to enable us to build the business ... and get more efficient," Mathieu said by phone Friday. Robert Racine of Common Sense was the listed buyer of the property, according to the property deed on file with Washington County. The building sold for $500,000 on June 8.

Manufacturing for the body care products business will continue at the converted barn soapshop at the farm at 41 North Union St.

The Common Sense community in Cambridge, part of the Twelve Tribes religious sect, also owns and operates the Common Ground Cafe & Bakery on East Main Street, currently closed for renovations. Mathieu said remodeling there would encompass both the dining and kitchen areas, including a new walk-in cooler and more booths in place of tables. The cafe’s name is also slated to change, from Common Ground to Yellow Deli -- an ode to the original eateries opened by Twelve Tribes some 40 years ago.

The large building at the end of Pearl Street originally served as a mill distribution plant, and more recently as a manufacturing space for Vermont Timber Frames. While on the market, the Cambridge Volunteer Fire Department considered the building for a replacement firehouse.