A Hamden-based nonprofit development corporation is working with Bristol officials to clean up the contaminated J. H. Sessions & Son manufacturing property at 273 Riverside Ave. downtown, and turn it into a housing apartment community.
The New Colony Development Corp., which will soon have full authority to manage the 80,000-square-foot property, is slated to receive $2 million from the state to clean up on-site contamination, according to Dawn Nielsen, a spokesperson for the city of Bristol.
New Colony Development is a certified statewide brownfield land bank that works in partnership with regional economic development entities and local chambers of commerces on the redevelopment of contaminated properties.
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According to Nielsen, the Sessions company, a former trunk hardware manufacturer, ceased operations in 1984. Several businesses had been using the building since. As of 2022, the building was still owned and operated by members of the Sessions family.Â
Last year, the city and New Colony took over management of the building, which is now vacant.
The next step, Nielsen said, is for New Colony to complete the necessary paperwork with the state before cleanup of the 116-year-old building begins, possibly in late spring/early summer.
After that, conversion of the property into about 60 units of workforce housing — targeting households earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income — could begin.Â
Dale Kroop of New Colony said the city is working on securing a developer. The goal would be to make the apartments ready for occupancy sometime in 2024 or 2025, officials said.
