The Valley Indy sat down with Mayor David Cassetti Thursday to talk about two downtown property deals involving the City of Ansonia that will be the subject of a public hearing May 2.
Click play to listen to the interview:
The deals, the mayor said, has the potential to breathe new life onto Ansonia’s Main Street with new restaurants, apartments, along with a new police department and senior center.
It involves several downtown properties, including a few that have been economically stagnant since the 1980s.
Click here for a previous story.
Click here for a previous podcast specifically about 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.
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.
Click here and here for previous stories with more background.
The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 2 at City Hall.
Here are some of the questions we asked the mayor Thursday:
- Why is the city preparing to pay more than double the appraised value for 65 Main St? Or sell the ATP and Palmer buildings for roughly a tenth of their appraised value?
- The chairman of the Democratic Town Committee said the agreement to sell the ATP and Palmer buildings is a “sweetheart deal” in a CT Post article yesterday. How would you respond?
- When announcing these deals, city officials said that the contracts would be available prior to the public hearing, but yesterday the city’s lawyer said they would not be. How can people have an informed opinion about a real estate deal without knowing all its terms?
- Obviously you want to keep the public apprised of what’s happening, but did the city jump the gun announcing these deals before they were finalized?
- The purchase price for 65 Main St. is going to be $3 million to $4 million. Isn’t the fact that there’s still a $1 million range in the possible price show that the city announced the deals too early? Or the fact that you said the contracts would be released but now they won’t be?
Click the play button to listen to the interview.
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