The city of Middletown recently paid $3 million to add a nearly acre-sized property to a riverfront redevelopment site, with tentative plans mixing 277 multifamily units with a new parking structure, along with restaurant and retail spaces.
In a sale logged Dec. 13, the city bought 195 Dekoven Drive from the owners of the Attention To Detail automotive accessories shop operating on the site. The property includes a 11,196-square-foot service shop that is to be torn down as part of the redevelopment.
But not for at least 18 months. The city has agreed to lease back the property to the Attention to Detail owners for a year and a half while the business searches for a new home in the city. The Attention To Detail owners paid $510,000 for 195 Dekoven Drive in 2001.
The city will pair the newly acquired property with a neighboring 1.5-acre property where a municipal garage was demolished.
The city has enlisted New York-based Spectra Construction and Development for a mixed-use redevelopment of the two properties blending private and public interests. Tentative plans call for a 258-unit apartment building, 19 rental townhouses and 18,000 square feet of amenities, with 38,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, as well as a public parking garage.
The new “Village at Riverside” development will be connected to Harbor Park on the Connecticut River by a public pedestrian bridge built by the state.
Spectra President Daniel Klaynberg described the city’s Dec. 13 purchase by the city as “a big step forward” for the Village at Riverside.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Klaynberg said. “That’s a key piece to opening up Main Street to the park and getting that pedestrian bridge to connect to the river. I think it was a great move.”
The Village at Riverside project ties into the city’s broader effort to redevelop about 220 industrial and commercial acres near and along its riverfront. The “Return to the Riverbend” project aims to blend new riverfront parks, entertainment venues, and recreational trails with restaurant, retail and multifamily housing. This plan is expected to play out in multiple phases over decades at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Christine Marques, Middletown’s director of economic and community development, said demolition at 195 Dekovan Drive is expected to begin as soon as the 18-month lease with Attention To Detail is up. Redevelopment planning is ongoing, she said, and will include further public outreach and an “achievable” schedule, she said.
In 2022, Klaynberg estimated the cost of a new parking garage and public plaza of the Village at Riverside at $35 million, with the following mixed-use development at up to $120 million. The scale of these plans may be adjusted due to inflation in construction costs in the intervening years, Klaynberg said this week.
