Allan Appel Photo
The shuttered J.S. Ely House.
A probate judge has formally approved the anticipated sale of the half-century old community arts center building on Trumbull Street, the John Slade Ely House, to ACES/ECA, the regional after-school arts education center.
After months of negotiations over the future of the beloved Ely arts center, North Branford Probate Court Judge Frank Forgione issued ruled on Jan. 27 that he approves a sale agreement between the two parties dated Dec. 30, 2015.
By terms of the agreement, ACES will purchase the building for $390,000.
No specific date has yet been set for the closing, reported ACES Marketing and Communications Director Evelyn Rossetti-Ryan.
The unopposed request to approve the sale was the the culmination of months of 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.
That process is expected to unfold in phases, including a partial opening of the house this spring as design plans get finalized, and then a closing for extensive renovations to adapt the building for school use and to bring it up to code.
The sale sets the stage for negotiations between the new owner and the community arts groups that have long used the building, without rent, for terms of tenancy during the expected next phases of the building’s renovation, and afterwards.
Those issues are expected to be discussed at the next status hearing in court, scheduled for March 24.
Judge Forgione’s written finding also makes explicit that “in the event the proposed sale to Area Cooperative Educational Services does not occur, the Trustee shall return to the Probate Court to seek the Court’s permission for any future sale to any proposed future buyer.”
Stay tuned.
