The property starts at 67 Minerva and stretches into the empty lot on the Caroline Street side, stretching south to Third Street. Parking is in the lot off Caroline on the far right.
DERBY — A long-vacant eyesore on Minerva Street that the city foreclosed on back in 2018 is poised to undergo a $10 million makeover.
That’s because the Planning and Zoning Commission at its Oct. 19 meeting unanimously approved the Cedar Village Minerva Square residential development.
The project, slated for 67 – 71 Minerva St., along with 147 Caroline St. (a small, rarely-used city-owned parking lot for additional spaces), calls for construction of a four-story, 90-market rate apartment complex with under-deck parking. The apartments will be broken down into 39 studios and 51, 1‑bedroom apartments. The project includes 103 parking spaces.
According to a press release from Mayor Richard Dziekan’s office, the former dilapidated Brownfield property on Minerva Street had been sitting dormant for more than a decade, and was a liability on Derby’s tax rolls.
The property became Derby’s through foreclosure in 2018. The Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen, in Oct. 2020, reviewed three requests for development proposals, unanimously chose Cedar Village Development LLC, based in Shelton, as the preferred developer of the property.
Andrew Baklik, Mayor Rich Dziekan’s chief of staff, said in a press release that city alders chose this particular developer because of their successful track record with a similar apartment project in neighboring Shelton, at the former Carroll’s Hardware site, and their strong finances.
The city has been working with the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments and secured $288,000 for environmental assessment and remediation to support development of the property. Baklik said the city will maintain ownership of the property while clean-up efforts take place over the coming months. He said Cedar Village will also be doing some site work in conjunction with the clean-up efforts.
Once the property is cleaned up, the city will sell it to the developer for $200,000, according to Baklik. Efforts to reach the developer were not successful, so a project timeline wasn’t immediately available. Baklik, however, guesstimates that it could be complete by the third or fourth quarter of 2022. He said the Shelton apartment complex was built in just nine months.
Baklik said the new complex is slated to generate $70,000 in annual tax revenue for the city.
Dziekan said the project is welcome news.
“Here’s a piece of property that we took over in 2018, we turned it around and we’re getting it cleaned up, knocking down an old factory and putting up 90 apartments,” Dziekan said. “This will improve that whole lower Caroline Street area, plus the tax money we’ll be getting on that property is a win-win for Derby. And all the foot traffic that will be coming downtown will boost the commercial base, and I expect more businesses to open up.”
Derby Economic Development Liaison Carmen DiCenso said the project won’t impact city schools, as the apartments are studios and 1‑bedrooms.
Aldermanic President Joe DiMartino, and Democratic mayoral candidate who is vying for Dziekan’s seat during Tuesday’s (Nov. 2) municipal election, was happy with the PZC’s approval of the project, but only wished it happened sooner.
“Hats off to the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen for encouraging the redevelopment of this property,” DiMartino said via an email to the Valley Indy. “We welcome new market-rate housing to the downtown, even though there is no retail component to this project.”
DiMartino said there needs to be a better system in place within Derby government to get projects such as this off the ground quicker.
Dziekan said the city only took possession of the property in 2018, and finding a qualified buyer through the public RFP process was a “pretty quick turnaround,” considering it was an old Brownfield property that sat vacant for decades.
