With Interlocal Agreement, It’s ‘Full Steam Ahead’ for Greenway Commons

It hasn’t been easy gaining the funding necessary for remediation of Ideal Forging, but the Greenway Commons project is now back on schedule and staff with Meridian Development is feeling confident that it is now “full steam ahead.”

Greenway Commons received unanimous support from the Southington Town Council Monday evening to move forward with a plan that would provide funding for an unknown, but potentially expensive remediation of the former industrial factory property in plans to begin building the mixed-use development in downtown Southington.

Meridian Development Principal Howard Schlesinger said he’s excited over the opportunities to come and said with the latest interlocal agreement with the town, it’s now “full steam ahead for the project.”

“We are hopeful the first shovel could hit the ground, in terms of remediation, as early as this summer,” Schlesinger said. “With the interlocal agreement in place, we now are prepared to finalize funding and move forward in developing a remediation action plan. We will then go forward with that plan - that’s the next step.”

Exact costs for remediation are unknown, but given the type of industry previously on the site, it is likely to be expensive. That caused some delays in the project, Schlesinger told the town council Monday, as representatives were forced to look elsewhere instead of using private bonding as initially anticipated.

Meridian Development had started demolition of some buildings on the Ideal Forging property in May 2011 and completed the first stage of demolition later that summer before meeting funding challenges.

After two years of working with the state, however, the project has received $3 million in funding from an Urban Development Action grant - part of which may be drawn upon for remediation - and has secured an additional $1.5 million loan through the state Department of Economic and Community Development, or DECD, to supplement the funding with the town’s partnership. Schlesinger said this funding would go a long way to getting the project going.

Under the interlocal agreement reached Monday, Meridian will repay the DECD grant through a newly established “tax increment financing (TIF) district” within the Greenway Commons site.

The TIF district would operate as it’s own tax entity for a ten year period when either the first 50 units are built and sold or within a four year period, whichever comes first, according to the agreement approved by the council.

During this time, 75 percent of taxes collected on Greenway Commons property would go toward repayment of the loan and the remaining 25 percent would go to the town. Southington Town Attorney Mark Sciota told council members that before and after the 10-year repayment period, the town would receive 100 percent of the taxes on the property.

“It is the state we are working with and these terms could be subject to change, but we would come back before the council if our proposal is not accepted as presented,” Schlesinger said.

The town would not be responsible or hold any liability for the loan and any additional funding from the agreement would be used only to enhance public space such as a park scheduled to be built, Schlesinger said.

Art Secondo, president of the Southington Chamber of Commerce and a member of a five person Board of Directors for the project, said Greenway Commons will provide a strong financial boost for the town and help continue to provide improvements in downtown Southington.

The project itself calls for the development of approximately 250 units, some of which will be townhouses, while others will serve as mixed-use space with commercial property on the first floor and apartments above it. As part of the project, Greenway Commons would also construct a park for public use, integrate a walking trail through the development and proceed to build a museum and artspace at the site of the historic pump house on the Ideal Forging property.

“I can honestly say that I don’t want to see dog and pony shows, we as business owners want to see things happen,” Secondo said. “We do believe, especially in the downtown area that the promise of tomorrow lies with a partnership with government on this project.”

“This is going to happen in the near future downtown. We need revamping of businesses and this is the type of project we have been waiting for. In private conversations with Howard, I told him directly ‘don’t lie to us.’ I can say honestly that I wouldn’t serve on any committee to support this if I felt was a smoking gun.”

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