Army Purchases 15 Acres for $3.7M

There’s a new property owner in Branford— the U.S. Army.

The army purchased a 15-acre parcel of the 86-acre Bittersweet Farm property along Route 1 for $3.7 million. The site, pictured above, is slated to become the home of an Army Reserve Training Center.

Carol Labashosky, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told the Eagle that bid proposals for construction have already been received and are currently being evaluated by the government. She said a date for groundbreaking hasn’t been confirmed.

The sale of the property at 777 – 779 East Main St. (Route 1) was finalized at a closing last Thursday. The price recorded at Town Hall for the 15-acre site was $3,706,850.The property was sold by Bittersweet Partners LLC, a partnership between Al Secondino and Michael Belfonti, who maintain ownership of the remaining 71 acres.

An Environmental Assessment report issued in 2012 estimated the project would cost between $15 and $20 million, and would provide training facilities for 300 reservists, mostly on weekends. The 39,487-square-foot training center would include administrative offices, a library, learning center, weapons simulator and physical fitness areas. There would be a separate maintenance shop and an unheated storage building.

The entrance to the training center will be located along a proposed private road leading from Route 1 into the property.

Bittersweet History

The property has an interesting history ranging from chickens, to artists to failed dreams of a pharmaceutical company. The Wallace family owned the land for many years and operated a well-known chicken farm. The area later gained acclaim as an artist colony and craft village, featuring art studios and specialty shops.

In 2001, CuraGen Corp., a biotech pharmaceutical development firm, purchased the farm property for $2.3 million and evicted about two dozen artists and shop owners. CuraGen’s plans to build its headquarters there never materialized, and the 86-acre property was purchased by Secondino and Belfonti in 2005 for $2.9 million.

Secondino’s family has operated A. Secondino & Sons Inc. general contracting company in Branford since 1929. Belfonti is president and CEO of Belfonti Associates in Hamden, a real estate development and investment company founded in 1980.

Secondino recently told the Eagle that he hopes the Army’s decision to build there will spur further development for the property. Click here to read the story.

In 2011, Secondino and Belfonti made an informal presentation to the Inland Wetland Commission (IW) for Bittersweet and an adjoining 50-acre parcel which they also own. The combined properties stretch from Route 1 toward Interstate 95, and portions are crisscrossed by wetlands. The partners were considering development of a multi-use complex featuring a medical center, offices, residential units and a Costco store, but they never submitted the plans for formal consideration. Click here to read the story.

The Long Road to Branford

The Army’s purchase caps a long site-selection process which began in 2008. The Army looked at about 80 sites within 50 miles of Bridgeport, but all were eliminated except the Branford site. Among the locations rejected were sites in New Haven, Waterbury, North Haven, Cheshire and Oxford.
The Eagle first reported the Army’s interest in the Branford property in October 2012.

The Army submitted architectural and engineering plans to the town’s regulatory boards in 2012, but since it is a federal project, it does not require local approvals.

The project is part of the Grow The Army program, and not part of the nationwide Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program.

The IW commission recently approved construction of a 450-foot road leading from Route 1 to the Army complex. The Planning and Zoning Commission is slated to discuss site plans for the road at its April 3 meeting. The road will be owned by the Bittersweet Partners.

Project engineer John Mancini, of BL Companies in Meriden, told the IW commission that the Bittersweet Partners hope to eventually obtain permission to extend the access road southward and connect to Sycamore Way so that more parcels of land can be developed.
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