Final Approval Will Allow Town Departments to Relocate to North Center School

It wasn’t unanimous and didn’t come without a flurry of concerns presented by town officials, but the Southington Town Council has given final approval for a plan that will allow the Board of Education administrative offices and several town departments to relocate to the vacant North Center School facility.

The council approved a motion by a 7-2 vote Monday night allowing the town to enter into a contract with Borghesi Building and Engineering of Torrington that would sell the 200 North Main St. facility for $1 and then lease it back.

Borghesi will be responsible for renovations and general landlord duties under the stipulations of the contract and the Town of Southington could buy it back if approved by referendum after eight years at a fixed price of $2.9 million.

“The only fluid cost throughout this process was an additional $88,000 add on to meet requirements that the renovations match the requirements of the town’s Renaissance Project,” said Council Chairman Edward Pocock III. “Even if we work this cost into the figures previously presented, the savings to the taxpayer is more than $1.5 million.”

The contract stipulates that the town would lease the building at a cost of $375,000 in the first year and lease payments of just over $387,000 in years 2 through 8, said Town Attorney Mark Sciota. The lease payments will then be reduced each year on a sliding scale if the town does not approve a referendum to buy back the property.

The increased leasing cost over a seven-year period accounts for changes exterior design and the inclusion of park benches, a bicycle rack and trash cans outside the North Center property, Sciota said.

The agreement also stipulates that the town must be allowed to lease the property for up to 20 years and could buy back the property at any point after eight years.

The overall cost of the project, after interest, is estimated at just under $7 million with the technology upgrades the town is responsible for including security features, telephone lines and a back-up generator.

Monday’s approval didn’t come without opposition, however, with Democrats John Barry and Anthony D’Angelo each voting against the project.

The two cited several reasons, including potential unknown costs, but each said they would be highly in favor of the plan if it didn’t involve selling a usable town facility without any guarantee that the town would get it back. In 20 years, we could spend upwards of $8 million and end up without a building.

“We all know (Town Hall) is inadequate,” D’Angelo said. “It’s a good move to relocate the departments but I don’t think that to sell it and expect we will get it back; that’s not a good move.”

D’Angelo asked the council to consider tabling the vote for some further review – a request that Pocock called a ploy to kill the project although D’Angelo was vocal it was not – but the motion was denied by a 5-4 vote along party lines.  

D’Angelo had also suggested that the town consider ways to complete a move without selling the building, but Councilman Al Natelli said the lease amount is still more than $6 per square foot cheaper, even after a buy back, than if the town were to lease commercial property.

Under a plan approved by the council in February and members of the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Board of Education administrative offices will relocate from the 99-year-old Beecher Street facility while the land use departments and economic development office would relocate to the facility.

The Board of Education will then turn the Beecher Street property back over to the town, departments currently in the Gura building adjacent to Southington Town Hall would be moved into the main facility and both buildings will be addressed by the council as separate projects.

Alan Borghesi, owner of Borghesi Building and Engineering, Borghesi said his company would begin work immediately in hopes that the project would still be completed by November – an initial goal set in February before the recent delays in the process.

“Is this perfect? No, a new town hall would have been,” Pocock said. “We know that we have a serious space problem at town hall and voters have turned down renovations three times. This is the next best option.”