$500,000 Grant Study Already Done
By Robin Vinci at August 1, 2024 | 8:15 pm | Print
City Hall announced it will receive a $500,000 grant to study whether the site of the former police headquarters on Columbus Boulevard can be redeveloped for apartments or student housing for Central Connecticut State University.
But that study was already done about four years ago under the watch of Former Mayor Timothy Stewart when the City debated on fixing up the police headquarters or building a new department.
“We had consultants in to look at multiple properties. The police department being one of them,” said Stewart. “We wanted to see if it was feasible to invest $25 million into the existing structure or get a new one.”
Consultants prepared a document showing the cost of renovation and abatement of that structure was going to be more than what the property was worth.
“The recommendation was to build new,” said Stewart “That is why I went after the property at the corner of Chestnut and Main Streets.”
Stewart said there is another $500,000 in grants that he applied for in order to have another project studied, that will now be used for this area. In total it will cost $1 million to do a project which was already completed.
“You can’t even abate it for $1 million,” said Stewart. “It costs $770,000 to abate the court house and that was a smaller building and done years ago.”
Asbestos in floor tiles and all the other hazardous materials was removed from the courthouse.
“This one will cost at least 30 percent more because it is bigger,” said Stewart. “The building has to come down. Now you have to deal with the soil.”
The soil is contaminated from the old factories that were on the property such as Landers, Frary & Clark and Stanley Works.
For the courthouse, workers had to go down 20 feet deep in the soil and even then they reached oil.
“The release of these state funds will help New Britain and CCSU coordinate efforts to revitalize the downtown area and stimulate economic growth,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a prepared statement.
According to the New Britain Herald, Phil Sherwood, deputy chief of staff, in addition to housing, “there may be some interest to moving some classes and administrative offices to the same location. CCSU is a successful university and they are growing. The demand for enrollment is increasing. It is not a surprise that investments need to be made.”
Stewart said that will not happen at this location.
“So what exactly is this money for?,” said Stewart. “To give the mayor a talking point as if CCSU were really going to locate a housing facility in the downtown. And that’s all!”
