Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday announced $20 million in grants to support cleanup and redevelopment of blighted properties throughout the state.
The funds will support remediation and redevelopment of 21 properties, consisting of 150 acres of contaminated land in 18 municipalities, according to Lamont’s office.
The grants are being released through the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s brownfields program. The funds are expected to leverage approximately $530 million in private investments, creating 1,392 new housing units and prompting business growth, according to Lamont’s office.
“All of these blighted properties have been vacant for years when we should be using them to grow new businesses and support the development of badly needed housing,” Lamont said. “This series of state grants enables us to partner with developers who will take these zombie properties and bring them back from the dead, cleaning up contaminated land and bringing life back to these neighborhoods.”
This grant round includes:
- $4 million – to Enfield for cleanup of the 3.2-acre site at 33 North River St., which housed the power plant for Bigelow Carpet Manufacturing. The cleanup will set the stage for development of a 160-unit multifamily residential complex tied to mass transit.
- $4 million – to Stonington for abatement and remediation at the four-story mill property located at 21 Pawcatuck Ave. The cleanup of the 5.24-acre site will enable conversion into a 51-unit apartment building with some commercial space.
- $3 million – to Cromwell for abatement, demolition and remediation of the shuttered Red Lion Hotel property at 100 Berlin Road. Early plans called for a 254-unit, mixed-use development on the 12.74-acre site, but developer Lexington Partners has said it needs to scale back the project to make it feasible.
- $1.85 million – to the Norwich Community Development Corp. to remediate and stabilize the historic Mason House located at 68 Thermos Ave. The Integrated Day Charter School plans to use the remediated space to expand, allowing them to provide community mental health services and host community events.
- $1.37 million – to Naugatuck for cleanup of a 7.7-acre, city-owned parking lot on Maple Street. This will allow for construction of a 60-unit, mixed-income development that will include 4,700 square feet of commercial space.
- $987,000 – to the Connecticut Brownfield Land Bank Inc. to abate hazardous building materials in shuttered state office buildings at 20 and 30 Trinity St., in Hartford, and remove an underground storage tank. Philadelphia-based Pennrose LLC and The Cloud Co., of Hartford, are partnered in a $45.35 million plan to convert the two former state office buildings into apartments that will host 104 units. The Capital Region Development Authority, last year, approved a $6.5 million loan for the effort.
- $950,000 – to the Western Council of Governments to complete excavation and remediation of contaminated soil on a 3.8-acre site at 39 Woodland Ave., in Stamford. Plans call for development of 714 new housing units, parks and pedestrian connections to the nearby harbor and Stamford Transportation Center.
- $610,000 – to Newtown for hazardous materials abatement of a roughly quarter-acre duplex building site at the former Fairfield Hills campus. The buildings, which have been vacant since 1995, will house the Newtown Parks and Recreation Department and be leased for commercial use.
- $660,096 – to West Hartford for the remediation and partial demolition of a building on a 1.83-acre site owned by an affiliate of the West Hartford Housing Authority. The site will be redeveloped into a 49 mixed-income rental apartment complex.
- $550,000 – to the Waterbury Development Corp. to complete remediation of the 0.29-acre site at 9 and 15 Branch St. The cleanup will enable the development of the Waterbury Police Activity League’s splash pad and playground.
- $200,000 – to Ansonia for environmental and structural testing to help create plans for redevelopment of the former Ansonia Opera House at 100 Main St.
- $200,000 – to Canton to advance testing and planning of a restoration and reuse of the historic mill complex on the 19.3-acre former Collinsville Axe Factory site at 10 Depot St.
- $200,000 – to the Northwest Hills Council of Governments for environmental assessment of a 12.38-acre parcel, formerly known as 282 Kent Road, to study its feasibility for affordable housing development.
- $200,000 – to East Haven and New Haven for the assessment of the privately-owned, 21.47-acre Coppola Metals Property straddling the city line. The highly contaminated former scrapyard has been vacant for more than 20 years.
- $200,000 – to Torrington to explore development options for 21.5 acres at 535 Migeon Ave., along the Naugatuck River.
- $200,000 – to the Torrington Development Corp. for environmental testing of the closed Yankee Pedlar Inn, on a 1.62-acre site located at 93 Main St. The tests will be used to plan redevelopment of the property.
- $200,000 –to the Northwest Hills Council of Governments to conduct environmental assessment on a 9.49-acre property along Meadow Street. The site is being considered for an adaptive reuse tied to small manufacturing.
- $200,000 – to Windham for environmental assessment of the 2.46-acre site of the former Kramer Building located at 322 Prospect St., in the city’s downtown. The results will be used for redevelopment planning.
- $186,000 – to New Haven to complete environmental investigations, hazardous building material surveys, structural assessments, and remedial design plans for 4.89 acres at 71 and 89 Shelton Ave. The results will help the city consider redevelopment options and attract prospective developers.
- $162,125 – to Hartford for the assessment of eight properties across the city totaling 2.36 acres. These vacant lots and abandoned buildings are being considered for residential development, a public library branch, social services and a “digital inclusion center.”
- $150,320 – to the Connecticut Brownfield Land Bank Inc. for the assessment of the shuttered William V. Begg Building site at 1106 Bank St., in Waterbury. The seven-story former public housing building was shuttered by the Waterbury Housing Authority more than a decade ago amid crime and nuisance behavior that pushed many residents to leave. Current plans aim to put the building back into use as affordable housing.
