STRATFORD — As the process for the town to sell one long-owned piece of municipal property nears its conclusion, officials are finalizing plans to offer up another one to developers.
The two properties are the former Center School off Sutton Avenue and East Broadway and the former Contract Plating off Longbrook Avenue.
Last week four companies pitched various concepts for residential developments at the Center School property to a selection committee of town officials.
At a July 27 meeting of the town’s Redevelopment Agency, Chairman George Perham said the selection committee has chosen to “shortlist” two of the potential developers.
He did not identify which ones, but said the committee would be reaching out to the companies to see if they would be receptive to further refining their plans.
“The idea now is that we take each one of the proposals, send them a list of comments and requests, ask them to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, then come back with their absolute best shot,” Perham said.
From there, Perham said the committee could either select one of the candidates to present to the Town Council, which has the final say-so on what happens to the property, or perhaps have both make presentations to the council.
The property has been vacant since the former school was demolished in late 2018, attracting lukewarm interest from developers when the town has issued requests for proposals in the past.
The agency brought a “preferred developer” to the council last year, but the town walked away after the developer’s plans for a 132-unit apartment development were widely panned. A renewed effort to sell the land attracted more interest this year.
As that process wraps up, town officials are readying a request for proposals on the former Contract Plating property off Longbrook Avenue, Economic Development Director Mary Dean told Redevelopment Agency members.
Millions of dollars have been spent to clean up the contaminated property, but millions more are still needed.
The chances of getting state or federal grants to do so would be better if the town has a developer lined up for the land, Dean said.
“The town has an opportunity to get funding for additional assessment and remediation that is conditional if we meet certain criteria, such as having a chosen developer for the property,” she said, without going into more specifics. “Because we have this opportunity, we need to go out for an RFP for Contract Plating as soon as we can.”
She said town officials could do so more easily because more is known about contamination at the property than when the town tried to sell it in years past, and the town also has a previous marketing report and grant application with other information.
“We have a ready source to put an RFP together,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for us. we’re very excited about it.”
The site was originally developed around 1918 by the Bridgeport Motor Company, a truck assembly and repair business, according to an engineering report on the property.
Contract Plating operated at the property from about 1936 to 1995 for metal finishing, electroplating and anodizing. The blighted former factory was demolished in October 2015.
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