An image from a conceptual plan for Olson Drive.
ANSONIA — A private developer said Wednesday he is still interested in developing a for-profit sports complex on Olson Drive, the site of a former federally-subsidized housing complex.
“The complex is still on track,” John N. Guedes said in an email responding to a Valley Indy inquiry. ​“Because of the HUD involvement, there were a number of steps and requirements that needed to be dealt with. I am committed and conduct monthly meetings with city officials to review process and status.”
Guedes is the president and CEO of The Primrose Companies in Bridgeport.
In September the company, responding to a city-issued request for proposals, submitted a conceptual plan to Ansonia City Hall calling for a $14 million recreation complex on Olson Drive.
Guedes’ for-profit company wants to build:
- a 49,000 square-foot, ​“all sports” training building
- a 39,000 square-foot indoor soccer facility, and
- a FIFA regulation-size soccer field
Guedes’ company is offering $250,000 for the 8‑acre property, which is currently two empty grass fields.
The Primrose plan at this point is conceptual — meaning it hasn’t formally hashed out planning and zoning details such as parking. That would come later. A purchase price hasn’t been agreed upon either.
The potential redevelopment project is more complicated than the average real estate deal.
The property was formerly home to the 165-unit federally subsidized Riverside apartment complex, which opened in 1963.
By the mid-2000s the apartments were in terrible shape. The apartments were demolished in phases, along with a community center, in 2009 and 2014.
The apartments and land are the property of the Ansonia Housing Authority, an agency under the control of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
HUD originally said the Ansonia Housing Authority had to replace every unit demolished on Olson Drive.
John Guedes, in a photo from his company’s website.
But Mayor David Cassetti’s administration said the Ansonia Housing Authority has been negotiating with HUD and has been providing the replacement units at places scattered across the city, instead of putting the apartments back on Olson Drive.
The Cassetti administration wants Olson Drive to be redeveloped and generate taxes (though the Guedes’ project is also requesting a tax abatement plan, an increasingly common request from lower Valley developers).
In October 2018, the Cassetti administration announced the Ansonia Housing Authority had agreed to transfer the land to the city for $510,000. The payment would happen in installments over four years, according to a prepared statement.
But HUD still holds power over what happens on Olson Drive. The city-housing authority deal is contingent upon approval from HUD.
HUD still holds a deed restriction on Olson Drive that prohibits anything other than residential use there. So the Cassetti administration and the Ansonia Housing Authority need to convince a division of HUD based in Chicago to remove the deed restriction.
In a Valley Indy podcast interview in October, Mayor Cassetti indicated the city had submitted already submitted an application to Chicago and that it was being reviewed.
That was incorrect.
Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini said in an email Wednesday that the application has not been submitted. He said the Cassetti administration is working closely with the Ansonia Housing Authority and its consultant to prepare the application. An updated environmental report is needed for the property, Marini said.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s economic development director and grant writer, said HUD also has to approve the Ansonia Housing Authority’s plan to replace a certain number of subsidized units lost when the Riverside apartments were demolished.
“Please remember that the application hinges, in part, on the AHA​’s ability to satisfy the requirements of the original demolition disposition,” O’Malley said in an email. ​“One of the main requirements was replacement housing — a number of units that Steve Nakano, Director of AHA, has helped to reduce and has made a good faith effort to satisfy that requirement.”
Minutes from the November 2019 meeting of the Ansonia Housing Authority show the authority — which is independent from city government — passed a resolution giving Nakano (its executive director) permission to complete all forms and steps necessary to dispose of the Olson Drive property.
The authority had passed a similar resolution in September, but the November resolution was needed to correct wording included in the September resolution, according to the minutes.
According to the Cassetti administration, once the city applies to the Chicago HUD bureaucracy, a decision is expected in 60 days.
Guedes said that based on his conversations with city hall, he expects an application to be filed by next week.
“I anticipate finalizing my agreement with the City and making a presentation to the Board of Alderman by April,” Guedes said.
Any development plan would have to pass a review by the city’s planning and zoning commission.
The Cassetti administration is betting HUD will issue all necessary approvals.
When asked twice through email if there’s even a chance the application could be rejected, O’Malley wrote:
“The indication from HUD Hartford is that the application will be approved.”
