Demolition-Cleanup-Redev Plans Advance

Science Park’s redevelopers are still planning to knock down an abandoned factory building saturated in toxic oil and marked by broken glass.

They’re now one small step closer to realizing that goal, as alders advanced a grant application that would cover a portion of the $10 million they need to demolish and remediate the derelict former site.

That was the outcome of Thursday’s latest meeting of the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) Committee meeting. The meeting was held in-person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

The committee alders heard proposals from Science Park’s redevelopers and from four other owners of to-be-rebuilt industrial and commercial lots, all of whom are seeking out funding from the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) for environmental remediation for their respective projects.

The state’s Brownfield Municipal Grants program requires that a municipal government itself apply for each environmental cleanup grant, even if a private developer is ultimately responsible for the remediation process. As a result, the city and partnering developers have to receive formal approval from the Board of Alders to apply for each grant.

On Thursday, committee alders heard pitches to fund cleanups of the former Winchester Arms factory building at Mansfield and Munson Streets as well as the forthcoming ​“Monarch” apartment complex on Derby Ave., ConnCorp mixed-use redevelopment of Dixwell Plaza, the non-profit affordable housing complex slated for 16 Miller St., and a currently-city-owned parking lot at the corner of George and Orange. 

All five state-grant-application proposals received favorable recommendations from the committee, and will next go before the full Board of Alders for a final vote.

The Science Park parcel under discussion on Thursday is the crumbling former industrial building at the corner of Mansfield and Munson Streets, also known as 275 Winchester Ave., which was once part of the Winchester Arms rifle factory. Two years ago, Science Park developers announced plans to build hundreds of apartments there as part of a broader neighborhood redevelopment project called Winchester Center. 

“Unfortunately, we can’t save these buildings,” Science Park Development Corporation CEO David Silverstone told the CSEP committee. Having formerly housed a factory, the buildings are full of trichloroethylene, lead, asbestos, and oil. ​“They’re toxic. They’re dangerous. And we have to take them down.”

While Silverstone estimated to alders that the project would cost $10 million (the formal grant application places the cost at $8.6 million), the developer is only applying for $2 million from the state’s Municipal Brownfield’s Grant. Another $6 million for the remediation will come from other state funding sources, such as the Community Investment Fund, Silverstone said, while Science Park Development Corporation is contributing $2 million toward the process.

“I’m afraid someone’s going to get hurt,” Silverstone said after his presentation about the current building. He and his New York-based developer Alex Twining said at the aldermanic meeting that people have been breaking into the abandoned buildings. When asked about a timeline for demolition, Silverstone said, ​“We’re gonna take them down as soon as we can.”

Representatives from ConnCorp, a local economic development nonprofit, also appeared before the alders on Thursday to describe their application for $2 million in state funds to clean up the former Dixwell Plaza, a commercial corridor across from the Q House community center. There, ConnCorp plans to build 174 apartments and a daycare, grocery store, and job center, among other resources.

The company is planning to abate PAHs, ETPHs, and lead from the area.

CSEP Committee Chair and East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked ConnCorp leaders Anna Blanding and Paul McCraven the same question she asked every developer on Thursday: if for some reason the state doesn’t approve the funding, ​“will you still go through with the project”?

McCraven offered an answer that echoed other developers’ responses: ​“We’re committed to getting the project done, so we’d find other sources.”

McCraven anticipates that demolition of the existing Dixwell Plaza buildings will begin sometime this year, and that construction on the new complex will begin next year.

Meanwhile, the West River Housing Company, LLC, is applying for $1.3 million to remediate 16 Miller St. — where the developer hopes to build 56 affordable housing units along with a community center, playground, coffee shop, and other amenities. 

The developers themselves did not appear before alders on Thursday; instead, city Economic Development Officer Helen Rosenberg and the Livable City Initiative’s Mark Wilson presented on their behalf. 

Rosenberg said that 11 feet of soil will be excavated in order to clean up lead, PAHs, and buried wood at the site.

Local voting and environmental activist Aaron Goode pressed for more information on the boundaries of the proposed remediation. Goode has been working with neighbors to revive the West River Peace Garden, which occupies part of the lot at 16 Miller St. Goode said he ​“supports wholeheartedly” the development at that site, but asked the city to delineate in writing how the peace garden (including a bald eagle’s nest located there) will be protected, potentially abated, and made accessible throughout the remediation process.

When committee alders deliberated, Festa issued a ​“strong recommendation to the city to clarify and guarantee access” to the peace garden.

A nearby proposed affordable housing development, The Monarch, has applied for $985,000 to remediate the property at 149 – 169 Derby Ave. The site is a former dry cleaning business, which saturated the soil with PCE, a toxic solvent associated with dry cleaning.

Ally Michaud, a representative of the developer Vesta, said the company anticipates breaking ground on the remediation ​“before end of year.” She expects the building itself to be completed in 18 months.

Finally, the city is applying for $2 million to clean up a city-owned parking lot at the corner of George and Orange (on the northeastern side of the intersection), which was contaminated with ETPHs and PAHs. 

There’s no developer currently slated to purchase and build atop that parking lot. Rather, the city hopes that abating the property will help make it more attractive to prospective buyers — especially as the Coliseum project is set in motion across the street.

Once it receives the expected Brownfield Grant, the city would have three years to remediate the parking lot, according to Economic Development Officer Helen Rosenberg. ​“It would make sense to wait for a developer” before beginning that process, she mused.