Sam Gurwitt photo
Wintergreen school.
Hamden’s new administration has brought the town one step closer to closing a deal to sell Wintergreen magnet school — and putting $16 million of cash into the town’s pocket.
The town reached a tentative agreement this week to sell the property at 670 Wintergreen Ave. to Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES), which runs a magnet school out of the building, for $16 million. That update comes at the same time that ACES has decided to put the historic John Slade Ely House on Trumbull Street up for sale.
Selling Wintergreen is a key step in the town’s ever-evolving 3R plan. Read more about that project here, which seeks to establish sliding scale pre‑k for all Hamden residents by consolidating the district’s school facilities.
Hamden’s previous mayor, Curt Leng, announced similar news regarding the Wintergreen swap on Sept. 1 of last year. At the time, Leng said that the school would officially switch ownership by Feb. 15 and that the money would be used to keep two neighborhood schools slated for closure open — as well as to build a new fire station and kitchen in the Keefe Community Center.
The deal, however, was not finalized. The town has kept working on it.
“I’m not sure there was a concrete deal before,” Garrett told the Independent Thursday. “There weren’t very many people in the room during that discussion.”
Since taking office, Garrett said, she has met with ACES leadership alongside Board of Education President Melissa Kaplan, Hamden public schools administration and the town attorney. While both parties, meaning Hamden and ACES, still have to sign the paperwork, Garrett said all sides have agreed to the sale and the new proposed closing date is June first of this year.
The original payment schedule, Garrett said, wrapped around a five-year timeline and featured a balloon payment, meaning the town would not have received the majority of the $16 million until 2027. The new agreement, she said, means Hamden will receive all $16 million upfront.
“This infusion of cash to the town will help fund needed projects that have long been ignored, and will enable us to fund these projects without borrowing,” Garrett wrote in the press release.
“I am pleased the mayor and her team were able to finalize an agreement with ACES on the sale of Wintergreen School,” Superintendent Goeler added. “This will allow our district to allocate resources to keep both Church Street and Shepherd Glen schools open to our students and staff and perform the necessary school capital improvements. Successfully completing this agreement with ACES affords the opportunity for our administration to work with their team to successfully transition programs currently housed at Wintergreen School back to our neighborhood schools at the end of the 2022 – 2023 school year.”
Garrett told the Independent that while the town will indeed be “sharing the money with Hamden public schools,” she intends to wait until the end of the state legislative session to determine how to use the funds from the sale.
What kind of long term plan does Hamden or any town have? Spend a bundle building, maintain, then sell. And why is the payment over time? When you buy property, you either pay cash or have a mortgage. Why does Hamden have to wait?