After waffling a bit on whether to disclose details, the Ansonia city attorney Wednesday let some info loose regarding two major downtown land deals Mayor David Cassetti will present to the Board of Aldermen.
A public hearing on the matters is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 2 in Ansonia City Hall.
If the deals and redevelopment plans go forward, it would easily be the biggest change in the downtown Ansonia area since Target was built on the ashes for the former Latex Foam factory.
65 Main St.
One of the deals involves the city buying 65 Main St. from Shaw Growth Ventures, an entity that took control of the office building next to the Eagle Hose fire house through foreclosure.
The Cassetti administration wants to buy the property and use it for a police station and senior center.
In a 60-minute podcast recorded April 7, city attorney John Marini said the public would be able to see the purchase price and sale contract prior to the public hearing.
But the story changed when the Valley Indy asked for the info Wednesday.
Marini said the developers involved in the deal didn’t want the details public in advance of the public hearing.
He also worried about the city’s negotiating leverage four business days before the public hearing.
But a short time later Marini said he reached out to developers and was able to relay some information — though less than what was promised earlier this month.
Marini said in an email that Ansonia government will be purchasing 65 Main St. for “fair market value.”
What’s that in terms of cold, hard, taxpayer cash?
While the city is waiting on an appraisal to be completed, “we believe it will be in the range of $3 to 4 million,” he said.
But public records show two recent appraisals are much less than $3 to $4 million.
Property records show 65 Main St. has an appraised value of $1,492,200.
And, during a foreclosure case last year it was valued at just $820,000.
So why are taxpayers being asked, potentially, to pay so much more?
Those earlier appraisals might be way off, Marini said in an email. Now the city’s having one of their guys check it out.
“After discussing with our appraiser, Vinnie Guardiano, it appears the building will be valued between $3 and $4 million,” he wrote. “The prior appraisal may have been based on limited information (don’t know if that appraiser even had access to the property) and I note that it was performed in the process of a foreclosure.”
Marini said the city’s appraiser would review the prior appraisal and provide an analysis.
The building at 65 Main St. is owned by Shaw Growth Ventures, who took it in a foreclosure from Washington Management, a company that purchased it from the Farrel Corp. but failed to follow through with redevelopment plans.
Shaw Growth Ventures also owns the old Farrel “process lab” next door on East Main St. Shaw hopes to sell 65 Main St. to the city, then use the cash from that deal to redevelop the process lab building into some type of retail-apartment mix.
ATP and Palmer To Be Sold, Too
The other downtown Ansonia land deal on the agenda for the May 2 public hearing involves the city selling two long underdeveloped properties to to Copper City Development, owned by Jerry Nocerino and Charles Smith.
The two properties to be sold are:
1. The ATP building, 497 E. Main St.
2. The Palmer building, 153 Main St.
(Those properties are a stone’s throw from 65 Main St. and immediately adjacent to the “process lab” building on East Main Street. Article continues after photo.)
The city could be willing to let the ATP building and the Palmer building go for $200,000, Marini said.
Copper City Development would be getting a very good deal because the properties have been appraised at $829,500 and $1,396,200.
That means Copper City Development would be buying the buildings for just about a tenth of their value.
The agreement could also involve tax breaks for the developer, causing Democrat Dave Knapp to call it a “sweetheart deal” in a CT Post article.
But Cassetti’s administration counters that argument by pointing out Copper City Development, which has a proven track record in Derby and Ansonia, is pouring some $10 million into the properties to “recharge” Ansonia’s Main Street.
Ansonia has been trying to get something to be economically viable at the two properties since the 1980s.
“The city’s intention is to attract a $10 million private investment into the downtown area,” Marini said. “These buildings have been undeveloped for decades and cost the city thousands each year to maintain. The city believes the terms of the proposed agreement will provide the incentive necessary to finally get these properties to their highest and best use, to the ultimate benefit of the taxpayers.”
Marini pointed out the city, under a prior administration, had struck a deal to sell the buildings to a New Jersey-based developer for $1.5 million only to have the deal declared dead after four years of inactivity.
The city is willing to take a different approach with Nocerino, he said.
“The goal here is to get long-term results with developers that have a proven track record and vested interest in our community,” he said. “Again, the agreement sets for safeguards for the residents, including a milestone agreement, to ensure development actually occurs.”
— — — — —
SAVE LOCAL NEWS. Donate.ValleyIndy.org during The Great Give.
