Rocky Hill officials are betting that a $500,000 grant from the state bond commission will jump-start the redevelopment of a long-vacant building at the heart of the town.
The Rocky Hill grant is one of a series of proposals under the heading of “urban development projects” scheduled to be considered by the state Bond Commission on Friday. The grant would go to the town to help pay the estimated $1.2 million it will cost to demolish the former Ames corporate offices on Main Street and Silas Deane Highway.
The town has a developer under contract to build on the site, which has been approved for a mixed-use project including apartments, according to State Rep. Kerry Wood (D-Rocky Hill). However the deal is in its early stages and has yet to be finalized or officially announced, she said.
Vacant since 2002, the 180,000-square-foot building is an eyesore at the heart of the town and provides a sorry backdrop to civic parades and other events, said Wood. Rehab proposals have come and gone over the years, but the town would be better off demolishing the asbestos-tainted structure and offering developers a clean slate, she said.
If the state grant is approved, town officials hope the scope of any future project would be increased to include more housing and retail space, Wood said.
“The ability for the state to be a partner is going to kind of craft that final scope,” she said. “The fact that we now have an additional $500,000 will benefit the outcome tremendously.”
Developers have shown increasing interest in Rocky Hill as housing demand has risen since the onset of the pandemic, Wood added. “There are a lot of people who want to live here,” she said. “This money could not have come at a better time.”
