This Google image from Aug. 2017 shows the property’s view from the Caroline Street side of the property.
DERBY — The Aldermen & Alderwomen went into executive session Oct. 8 to talk about possibly selling two city-owned properties: 67 – 71 Minerva St. and 147 Caroline St.
Executive sessions are meetings closed to the public. They’re OK under specific circumstances, such as when elected officials are talking about real estate deals.
The property at 67 – 71 Minerva St. has been an eyesore — and a thorn in the city’s side — for at least six years. A building there was on the verge of collapse in 2015. At one point part of the property was a literal open pit.
The city took it over in 2018 through a tax foreclosure, and has partnered with the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments for environmental assessments. That process is ongoing.
The overall goal, according to past statements from Mayor Rich Dziekan and Derby Economic Development Liasion Carmen DiCenso, is to get the property into a state where it can be sold, find a developer, sell the property, and get it back on the tax rolls.
The other address, 147 Caroline St., is a rarely-used city-owned parking lot across from 67 – 71 Minerva St. The properties were put out over the summer for a “request for proposals.”
After the Oct. 8 executive session, the Aldermen/Alderwomen voted to “authorize the negotiating committee” to talk to a potential buyer/developer. Those negotiations include figuring out a sale price.
The negotiating committee, according to a motion from First Ward Alderwoman Barbara L. DeGennaro, includes Mayor Dziekan, DiCenso, Chief of Staff Andrew Baklik, Derby Corporation Counsel Vin Marino, unnamed representatives from NVCOG, Derby Finance Director Keith McLiverty, and Second Ward Alderman Ron Sill.
That committee will be negotiating with the potential buyer, identified as “Cedar Ridge Development Company.”
DeGennaro’s motion was passed unanimously.
A public records search shows Cedar Village Development is a limited liability company that lists Don Stanziale, Jr., a Shelton resident, as a principal member.
The company recently redeveloped the former Carroll’s Home Improvement property into market-rate apartments at the corner of Coram Avenue and Hill Street in downtown Shelton.
If the company successfully purchases Derby’s Minerva and Caroline street properties, it will propose new apartments be built, to be supported by the parking lot across the street.
Baklik said Cedar Ridge is the city’s preferred developer at this point, and that the “negotiating committee” hopes to work quickly.
DiCenso noted the Minerva Street property was one of the first properties tackled by a blight committee when he was an Alderman.
“We’ve been working on that property for years,” he said.
