Consultants for the City of Derby are finalizing a report that could provide a road map for the redevelopment of a large building downtown.
The emphasis is on could.
The “focus property” is 33 Elizabeth St., a highly visible four-story building with a ballroom dance school on the street level and apartments on the upper floors.
The hope is that a revitalized, modernized, restored, less empty and more profitable property — made that way through the use of federal and state tax credits aimed to cut costs for the redevelopment of historic properties — could trigger other property owners to follow suit.
“The purpose of it is to demonstrate the viability of restoring a somewhat meaningful, visible historic building, but with the intention that it be put to some sort of economic use that would benefit the community and the neighborhood,” said John Poole, a Derby resident who is volunteering his time to serve on the “Vibrant Communities Initiative Steering Committee,” a group set up by Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto.
However, the coming report is just a suggestion, albeit one filled with tons of data and research.
The property owner is not obligated to follow the suggestions — and, in this case, the limited liability company that owns 33 Elizabeth St. hasn’t indicated it’s interested.
At worst, the owner — or a future owner — will have a free report at their disposal complete with a redevelopment financial analysis. The city also gets a report it can keep on file identifying the property as important — both historically and economically.
The City of Derby is using $50,000 in state grant money from the state to fund the report, which, in addition to providing guidance with the “focus property,” will include suggestions as to how Derby can make development easier downtown.
The 84-year-old building at 33 Elizabeth St., once home to United Illuminating, was known back in the day as “Derby’s skyscraper.”
It’s about 20,000 square feet on the Elizabeth Street side, but there’s an additional 10,000 square feet of space in the rear, on the Minerva Street side.
John Guszkowski and his colleagues at CME Associates, Inc. in Woodstock are writing the report for the city. It’ll most likely be finished in a month, he said.
The document will look at two scenarios for 33 Elizabeth St.
The first scenario calls for a roughly $3 million redevelopment of the existing building, which includes modernizing the interior and adding a better fire protection system to the ground floor.
Other than those improvements, the Elizabeth Street side would be left as is.
But the Minerva Street side of the property, which is pretty much vacant now, would be converted into apartments.
Rent would cost tenants $900 to $1,100 a month. That’s a price point just under the Avalon, new apartments that are filling up in Shelton just across the Housatonic River.
The second scenario calls for an additional 10,000 square feet of space to be added to the Minerva Street side of the building in order to provide more apartments. Redevelopment costs there are estimated at about $4.5 million.
Both scenarios aren’t financially feasible without using steep tax credits available for historic properties, Guszkowski said.
A major hitch — 33 Main St. isn’t within a historic district in Derby. The report strongly recommends Derby expand its historic district to include the building, so that the project, if it were to ever happen, would qualify for the tax credits.
Dugatto and her administration are expected to review a draft copy of the report this month before it is finalized.
“It’s information you didn’t have before,” Guszkowski said. “It’s neither good nor bad, it’s how you use it.”
The mayor wasn’t available for comment Friday.
