Derby’s Redevelopment Agency met for the first time in more than a year Tuesday, where city officials said three developers are interested in bringing new activity to parts of the city’s long-stalled downtown redevelopment zone.
The city has been trying for years to spur new businesses in the area that stretches along Main Street next to the Housatonic River from roughly the Derby-Shelton Bridge to the former Lifetouch property.
In the latest in a series of setbacks, the preferred development agreement with California-based Eclipse Development Group expired April 18 due to the company’s inability to secure a viable anchor tenant for the area.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s economic development director, told agency members Tuesday that things are looking up.
“We’ve had unsolicited interest,” O’Malley said. “The climate is changing somewhat. It’s not great, but it’s better than it was two years ago.”
Two of the developers interested in Derby are from out of state and one is from Connecticut, she said, and one has an option on two parcels, including the former Lifetouch and Housatonic Lumber parcels.
In March, Frederick Petrella of the Connecticut Realty Group, LLC, said the First Bristol Corp. of Falls River, Mass. had options to purchase the Lifetouch and Housatonic Lumber properties.
An option means that the developer goes through a due diligence period, has to determine the cost of the project, and has to secure tenants, O’Malley said.
The developer with the option has expressed interest in working with another developer, and two other developers want to work on their own.
Some are interested in retail and restaurant development, and others just retail, O’Malley said.
“I still assume the city doesn’t want a ‘big box’ in the downtown,” she said. “It would be nice to have a retail development to complement what’s going on in Shelton.”
Developing separate portions of the zone is a change from previous developers such as Eclipse and Ceruzzi Development, who had planned to develop the entire parcel.
Developers these days are interested in “doing one to two buildings at a time,” said Mayor Anthony Staffieri. “These developers are more realistic.”
“The downtown is moving along slowly,” the mayor said. “We want to move along with sure-footedness.”
O’Malley said the city has secured brownfields funding and other grants that target the redevelopment area.
Route 34 Project In Design Phase
The Route 34 improvement project that aims to dovetail with downtown redevelopment is moving slowly but surely, officials said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Federal highway officials are reviewing the design of the project that would widen Route 34/Main Street along the redevelopment zone.
The plan has been in the works since 2011.
A review under the auspices of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), has taken longer than expected, and also includes historic preservation aspects.
“It sounds like the review went positively,” O’Malley said. “We’re moving forward.”
To proceed with the road project, the state would have to raze all buildings that front Main Street in the redevelopment area, she said.
Funding for the Route 34 project “is in place on the federal and state levels,” she said.
Looking For ‘Serious’ Interest From Developers
Now that there’s movement on the redevelopment front, O’Malley said she can update the redevelopment agency on a regular basis.
The agency met only twice in 2012, which Joe Bomba, its chairman, attributed to the city’s binding contract with a preferred developer.
“We’ll have meetings as we need to have meetings,” said Bomba, who was reelected as the agency’s chairman on Tuesday.
The group will meet “when we have serious interest from a developer, and there are things we could do to help a developer,” he said. “We take our cue from the Economic Development Office.”
“We’re proceeding cautiously,” said redevelopment agency member Ken Hughes. “There’s no immediate rush. We’ve been down this road before.”
