ANSONIA – Members of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen voted July 8 to spend $4.5 million to buy land on Pulaski Highway for a new middle school.
The board voted 11-0 to buy 25 acres at 64 – 78 Pulaski Highway.
Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini said the project will be reimbursed in part by the state. He said city tax payers should ultimately pay around $585,000 for the land.
However, that final bill estimate is based on a reimbursement rate of 87 percent, which was the prevailing rate passed by state lawmakers last year.
Alderman Steven Adamowski, who abstained from voting, said the state will need to review the purchase before guaranteeing that reimbursement rate. He said the city could be on the hook for more than $585,000, depending on how that review turns out.
Why Does Ansonia Need A New Middle School?
Ansonia Board of Education members and school district administrators have said for years that the city needs to build a new middle school.
Voters agreed, and approved borrowing $100 million for a new middle school in 2023.
The Aldermen approved a capital spending plan with that money in 2024. Most of that money is planned to be borrowed, and then reimbursed by the state, according to state law governing school construction projects.
After state reimbursement, the construction would leave responsible for about $13 million in costs, plus the purchase price of the land.
The current school building on Howard Avenue is more than 85 years old. Upgrades to the school would cost about as much as it would to just build a new school, Superintendent Joseph DiBacco said in 2022.
The current building has extensive code compliance issues and lacks usable outdoor space, according to previous long-range facilities studies.
Lawsuit Complicates Things
The Aldermen’s vote to authorize the purchase of the land is also expected to settle a lawsuit involving the city and the company which owns the property, Fortitude Capital/Ansonia Orchard LLC.
The company sued the city in January after years of negotiations over the purchase price.
The purchase price was set at $4.5 million by federal Judge S. Dave Vatti, as part of a court-mediated agreement between the city and the property owner.
Elected officials have been looking to acquire the land since at least 2010, when the Aldermen attempted to buy it from its previous owners.
The land back then was the subject of a dispute between a developer who wanted to build housing on the property, and city residents who wanted to see it preserved as open land.
The land ultimately wasn’t developed. Later development proposals fell flat, too.
Ansonia Orchard LLC, a subsidiary of New York-based Fortitude Capital, began negotiating with the previous landowners in 2021 to purchase the property.
Around the same time, the city was also talking about acquiring the land for a new middle school.
The company bought the land from the old owners in 2022, for $1.15 million.
Then the city tried to buy the land from the new owners.
What followed was a years-long, complicated dispute between the City of Ansonia and Ansonia Orchard LLC involving zoning regulations and a series of appraisals that came to different conclusions.
The city made offers on the land from $1.5 to $1.7 million, while the company said the land was worth up to $5 million.
That dispute ended up before a federal court in January of this year, in a lawsuit brought by the company.
The lawsuit was settled with a mediation agreement dated June 13. That agreement sets the purchase price at $4.5 million – much closer to the selling point proposed by the company.
Marini told The Valley Indy that it made sense to settle the lawsuit. He said that, if the lawsuit had been drawn out, the court likely would have sided against the city. He said it saves money to accept the agreement instead of fighting in court.
He referred to appraisals of the property from 2021 saying that the land could be worth up to $5 million, which were also cited by the company in court.
In a Facebook post, the Ansonia Democratic Town Committee assailed Mayor David Cassetti’s administration, calling the deal a “new money mess alert.”
A timeline of the legal dispute is below:
September 2021: Ansonia Orchard LLC was in negotiations with Peter and Vera Overchuk to purchase 64 – 78 Pulaski Hwy.
Although the Overchuk family were still the landowners, the city began negotiations with Ansonia Orchard LLC for the property. The city obtained an appraisal, which valued the land at up to $5 million.
December 2021: The city, hoping to get the land for a new Ansonia Middle School, offered Ansonia Orchard LLC $1.7 million for the land. The company, which didn’t own the land yet, said no.
June 2022: The city’s planning & zoning commission repealed a “cluster zoning” regulation in the zoning code, following a public hearing.
Three days later, Ansonia Orchard LLC completed the purchase of 64 – 78 Pulaski Hwy from the Overchuk family for $1.15 million.
October 2022: Ansonia Orchard LLC obtained an appraisal of the land. The appraisal given to the company valued the land at between $4.1 and $5 million, matching the city’s September 2021 appraisal.
December 2022: The city made another offer for $1.7 million. The company said no again.
September 2024: The city got two new, independent appraisals of the property. The two appraisals each valued the property at $1.5 million. The city offered to buy the land for $1.5 million. The company said no.
January 2025: Ansonia Orchard LLC sued the city. The company’s complaint alleges that the appraisals were not actually independent. It also alleges that the city conspired to lower the appraised value of the land by overturning the “cluster zoning” regulation.
March 2025: The city asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
June 2025: The city and company agreed to a mediation agreement overseen by federal judge S. Dave Vatti. The agreement sets the purchase price at $4.5 million.
July 2025: The Board of Aldermen voted to authorize the city to move forward with the purchase.