The days appear to be numbered for Glastonbury’s landmark Roser Tannery.
The owner of the 160-year-old building on New London Turnpike, which now houses one of the town’s largest manufacturing companies, said he has a tentative agreement to sell the tannery and its accompanying 24 acres of land to a national developer who has plans to build upscale condominiums on the site.
“The developer would prefer not to be named,” said Kenneth J. Flanagan, an owner of the property and president of Flanagan Industries, headquartered in the tannery.
The 50,000-square-foot Roser Tannery served as a pigskin processing plant up until the late 1960s, when Flanagan’s father bought it. It has since served as one of two main manufacturing facilities for Flanagan Industries, which employs about 100 and makes turbine components and other products for the aerospace and energy industry.
News of a potential deal for the property comes as Flanagan consolidates it business to a soon-to-be built 50,000-square-foot lean manufacturing facility on Mill Street, next to its other facility. The move should be finalized in about a year. No deeds on the Tannery site would likely transfer for at least two years.
That leaves behind the empty tannery — and its undeveloped acreage off of a key roadway — which one expert said would make a prime location for a mixed-use development, akin to the nearly completed Blue Back Square in West Hartford.
“It’s worth exploring the possibilities since it’s an easily accessible area,” said Dean Amadon, president of commercial real estate appraisers Amadon & Associates in West Hartford. “You could include some residential and retail space, or a professional space for those who might work where they live, like architects. The potential for the property is pretty good.”
Of course, Amadon said, development of the tannery would depend on zoning rules and regulations and the community’s willingness to work with any developer. But its location — across the street from a condominium complex, and not far from a supermarket and residential neighborhood, make it a logical choice for a mixed use development. The natural features of the land — which include a pond and two brooks, would make it potentially more attractive to a developer.
Glastonbury’s plan of conservation and development, finalized less than two weeks ago, specifically names the tannery as a location where the town should “promote mixed adaptive reuse should it become available,” said John Rook, town planner.
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The deal hinges at least partially on the cost of cleaning up pollution at the site, which dates from the building’s use as a tannery where acids and other chemicals were used to remove hair and treat pigs’ skins.
The site is one of two in Glastonbury listed with the state Brownfields Redevelopment Authority, which coordinates cleanup of former industrial properties. The sale of the property “will have a lot to do with the amount of brownfields funds that are available,” Flanagan said.
After they were used, chemicals from the tannery were stored in a half-dozen clay-lined lagoons toward the back of the property, near Krieger Lane. Liquids from the lagoons were occasionally siphoned off into Hubbard Brook, which flows into the Connecticut River. The clay lining likely would have prevented much of the chemicals from spilling — or leeching — into the surrounding ground, Flanagan said.
Some of the site has already been remediated, but Flanagan estimated the clean-up would cost upwards of $1 million. That figure sounds “about middle of the road” for a typical brownfield loan, said Tony Roberto, executive director of the Connecticut Development Authority, which oversees the brownfields initiative. “It depends on the nature of the project,” he said.
