More Details on Aquinas Project Released
By Editor at October 13, 2023 | 2:15 pm | Print
Only about 18 More Months Before Entire Structure Will Cave In
On Thursday, Oct. 6 Maryellen Shuckerow, the chief development officer at Chrysalis Center Real Estate Corporation, presented the East Side NRZ with more information on what would be happening at the old St. Thomas Aquinas School building at 74 Kelsey St.
Chrysalis is buying the building for $80,000 and will apply for $6-8 million in grant to rehabilitate and refurbish the building.
The Aquinas property will be 36 units mostly one bedrooms, some two bedrooms. The Smith School building appears to have been was built in 1925. Aquinas came into being 1959 and added additions and a convent.
“We applied for a total overlay project. We will get mixed funding using historic tax credits and historic reproduction,” said Shuckerow. “The roof has fallen into school. There is significant water damage. What’s left is the shell. It will be about18 months before the entire brick structure will cave in.”
The outside will be fully remediated. There is asbestos, but water has caused the worst damage. The entire guts will be cleared, doors, windows and bricks will be restored. The roof will be replicated. The convent will be restored and parking will be in the rear.
The landscape will be restored as well as a sunken garden.
“It is filled with debris right now,” said Shuckerow. “The Alumni Association wants to put bricks with names on them in the sunken garden because that is where they took class pictures.”
Presently the school’s front doors are missing. An Aquinas alumni is willing to pay to have them replicated to what they were before.
According to Shuckerow, the building will be affordable housing. It is not supportive housing. It is not section 8 housing. It is not targeted for certain populations. It is housing for the community.
Because there is still a need for senior housing Chrysalis will set some aside for seniors on the first floor only.
Right now they are expecting to ask $750 for a one bedroom apartment. In Hartford, affordable one bedroom rents are $1,012.
“This property has brought property values down,” said Shuckerow.
There will be two units above the gym that used to be a music room, but there will not be any units in the gym.
Chrysalis wants to make the gym an area for the community. It can be for seniors or for kids. Chrysalis wants to partner with an organization such as the YMCA.
“We are hesitant about daycare as it creates a lot of traffic flow,” said Shuckerow. “We have a space available and will retrofit it.”
The units will have granite countertops and fairly high end finishes.
“We are willing to spend a little more money for nice cabinets. It will all be tastefully done,” Shuckerow said. “We are sketchy on the roof because it is gone. The convent is also different. It does not match, but we will make it blend.”
There will be no smoking in the units, but there will be a smoking area. Every tenant will have a parking space and a guest space. A company will police the lot everyday with a tow truck. If there is not enough parking they will buy an adjacent lot.
“There will be no loitering. We don’t want riff-raff. Tenants know the rules or we ask them to leave. We are a no-nonsense company,” said Shuckerow. “We are mission based and are here for the long run in the community. We want the building to be quiet. No phone calls from you about parties.”
Most units come with heat and hot water. Renters pay electricity.
Shuckerow said it takes 3-4 years from when the company first looks at the building until it is complete. The company first looked at the project about two months ago.
The building will go for tax credits next June and will be a $6-$8 million dollar venture. It will be housing for 30 years or more.
It takes about 12 months from first shovel to the ground to open.
Chrysalis is a non-profit developer. Funding pays for the project. There are tax credits so there’s no big mortgages to pay off. Money taken in goes to operating reserve to replace and repair anything in the building and the 2.2 acres.
“We pay taxes, but we are going to apply for ramp up over 10 years,” said Shuckerow. “We paid $80,000 for this building. The environmental clean-up is very expensive so we want to pay 10 percent in taxes the first year and for it to go up 10 percent for the next 10 years.”
For more information on the company go to www.chrysaliscenterct.org.
