The Derby parking garage on Thompson Place.
DERBY – Mayor Joseph DiMartino’s administration wants the private sector to submit proposals to redevelop the municipal parking garage on Thompson Place.
A request for proposals (RFP) for the 310-space garage was reviewed March 27 by a subcommittee of the Derby Board of Aldermen and Alderwomen. The members of the subcommittee voted to recommend the RFP to the full board. The Alders’ next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 10.
The RFP is an 11-page document that gives a wide berth to possible development options for the garage, noting that anything submitted should be allowed under the current zoning.
Linda Fusco, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the city is open to ideas. She said a mixed use of retail, apartments and parking is a possibility.
Roger Salway, Derby’s economic development director, said the garage itself is structurally sound. Engineers said it could support two floors of apartments, Salway said.
The administration recognizes how important parking is downtown, Fusco said. An ideal project would not see the garage lose public spaces.
She noted that current parking spaces leased to the U.S. post office, nearby apartment buildings, the Superior Court house and a law firm must be honored in whatever proposal is submitted.
The condition of the Derby parking garage has been a concern for at least 20 years. It was built in the 1970s.
“It’s outlived its ability to be maintained safely. There are a lot of issues with it,” Fusco said.
Thompson Place connects Elizabeth Street to Olivia Street in downtown Derby.
In the past, officials said chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling. Cracks in the deck are big enough to expose rebar. Mysterious, oily liquids leak onto vehicles. The elevator doesn’t work. The city installed cameras under Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration because officials were concerned about crime.
Mayor Tony Staffieri’s administration (2005 to 2013) considered putting a referendum out to voters in order to borrow money to fix the garage, but ultimately decided it was too expensive. Repairs to the city’s sewer system were a higher priority.
Fusco noted there have been four attempts to win grants to fix the parking garage, including a $900,000 request under the DiMartino administration, and a $9 million grant request under Dziekan’s administration. All grant applications were rejected, Fusco said.
“We don’t have the money here. And it doesn’t seem that in this climate of grants and federal loans, there’s not going to be much out there,” she said.
At the same time, Derby has seen residential development downtown.
Trolley Pointe, a 105-unit apartment development, is almost done on Main Street. The Route 34/Main Street widening project is supposed to be done in June (albeit late). Cedar Village, a 90-unit apartment building, opened on Caroline Street in 2024. Last year the city voted to pay $1.35 million to buy a scrapyard on the Housatonic River seen as an impediment to new development downtown.
Fusco said those projects, and the fact the parking garage is a half-mile from the Derby train station, should attract private investment.
“It seems the best thing to do would be to privatize it, either through lease or through sale,” she told members of the subcommittee March 27.
