nothin ACES/ECA Set To Buy Ely House For $390,000 | New Haven Independent

ACES/ECA Set To Buy Ely House For $390,000

Allan Appel Photo

Ely House, shuttered since July.

Probate Judge Frank Forgione indicated that he plans this week formally to approve the sale of the now-shuttered John Slade Ely House on Trumbull Street to ECA/ACES, the regional arts education organization.

The unopposed request to approve the sale was the the culmination of long negotiations between the school and Wells Fargo, trustee for the Grace T. Ely Estate, which owns the property,. The school, whose main campus is a block away on Audubon Street, intends to renovate the building and use it primarily as a location for its visual arts program.

After months of negotiations over the future of the beloved Ely arts center, Forgione made it clear during a hearing in his North Branford Probate Court this past Friday that he will give the deal the needed OK.

The $390,000 sale reflects the significant mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofing, and other structural work that needs to be done to bring the house up to code and appropriate for use by students, said ECA/ACES Executive Director Tom Danehy.

It’s a fair price,” Danehy said after the hearing concluded.

It was the fifth hearing convened in Judge Frank Forgione’s North Branford Probate Court since Wells Fargo decided to put the house on the market. That action triggered widespread outrage among artists and the formation of a group called the Friends of the John Slade Ely House. Artists — backed by the city and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven — sought to stop a sale that would eliminate the building as an arts center, and have made progress on a new deal to preserve that function.

Whither Brush & Palette?

ACES Attorney Arnold Shimelman and E.D. Danehy.

A still-unsettled issue came into focus at the hearing: The arts clubs that historically have used the building rent free — because they are mentioned in the Grace T. Ely will — will now have to negotiate with ACES for their rights for use of the building.

Click here and here for previous stories on the general phasing of plans for renovation of the Ely House and preliminary ideas for the shared uses.

The clubs must now negotiate with Wells Fargo, too. Under the terms of the will, the bank must distribute a percentage of the sale proceeds to arts organizations.

So Ian Bjorkman, attorney for the New Haven Paint and Clay Club and the Brush and Palette Club, also filed a motion for Judge Forgione to construe” the will with an eye to clarifying the specific rights of the clubs under the will.

That is, when the trust begins to disseminate funding, should not the clubs, which are mentioned by name in the will, receive first consideration” and not have to get on line with other arts groups to receive support?

You’re asking for the Trust to fund the clubs?” Judge Forgione queried.

No, not a blanket order,” replied Bjorkman

Forgione: So what are you saying?”

Bjorkman: A special interest. As named entities to receive benefits … to receive benefits as instruments for the benefit of the public.”

He added that the matter is pressing because, assuming the ECA/ACES sale goes through and the clubs enter into a lease agreement, for that there’s rent to be paid and the clubs aren’t in a position to pay without Trust funds.”

Since the request to construe had recently come in, Judge Forgione said he’d consider it at a later date.

Yet a third player in the complicated situation is The Friends of the John Slade Ely House, which formed with the help of the city and the Community Foundation in the wake of the crisis.

Its evolving role appears to be to raise funds as an umbrella group for the clubs and to become the main sub-tenant of ECA/ACES in the house after renovation. It will in turn sub-rent to the clubs and help organize the historic exhibitions.

Yet all that remains to be worked out. As Friends President Jeanne Criscola said after the hearing, We have no legal standing,” unlike the specifically named clubs.

While she was resigned to the outcome of the sale, Criscola did add, What hasn’t been finalized is the rights and funding of the legacy groups going forward.”

The Friends’ attorney, Ron Pacacha, said he hopes that through upcoming meetings, being facilitated by the Community Foundation and city arts czar Andy Wolf, those details can be worked out by mid-March. Judge Forgione said he will call for yet another hearing then on the status of the sale.

Before he approved the application to sell, however, Forgione eliminated from the agreement the bank’s request for blanket discretion to sell to another buyer, without the court’s involvement, should the ECA/ACES sale fall through.

The trust’s main representative, Wiggin & Dana attorney Aaron Bayer, said the house has been cleaned, the pipes drained, and the building settled in for winter in the run-up to sale and restoration by ECA/ACES.

The historic papers have also gone to the New Haven Museum, he added.

Oh Hermes, Come Home

As if there weren’t already many matters still to be settled, a minor if spirited dispute arose towards the end of Friday’s proceedings about a statue of Hermes that had been on display in the house for decades. The house’s last curator, Paul Clabby, had loaned it to the Slater Museum in Norwich, where it now resides. The bank indicated it has no problem with its staying there.

Friends’ prez, Criscola.

But it belongs in the house, parried one of the representatives of the clubs. For generations students have made drawings of it.

It isn’t of much monetary value, replied Attorney Bayer, and the issue for the bank is that it’ll cost money to return it from the Slater.

Andy Wolf said the statue should be brought home.

Judge Forgione urged the parties, including maybe New Haven Public Works Department, for moving purposes, to get together on the matter.

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