Connecticut mill complex may become $300 million new urban community

New Urbanism has been slow to catch on in New England, partly because many suburban and rural municipalities don’t want much residential development and especially don’t want the expense of educating more children. That’s certainly the case in Redding, a wooded town in affluent Fairfield County, Connecticut. But now it appears that the 8,300-population municipality may get one of the largest new urban projects in the entire Northeast. Georgetown Land Development Company intends to develop 542 housing units, 187,000 square feet of retail and office space, 109,000 square feet of “civic” space, and 36,000 square feet of manufacturing on 57 acres formerly occupied by a wire manufacturer. The Gilbert & Bennett Company operated a wire mill in the Georgetown section of Redding for more than a century and half, but operations ceased in 1989. The company eventually left behind 32 historic buildings, a lagoon polluted with zinc, lead, and other metals, and about $1 million in unpaid taxes. “A year ago the Board of Selectmen decided to sell the tax liens to someone who would clean up the property and redevelop it,” says First Selectman Natalie Ketcham. Town officials decided their best hope was Stephen Soler, president of Georgetown Land, who has redeveloped brownfield sites up and down the East Coast. His company acquired the property, paid the back taxes, and agreed to bring in Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. for a charrette that would consult townspeople about how the land and buildings might be put to use. The week-long charrette, conducted this October, resulted in a plan that Soler is now preparing to submit for official approval. Elements of the plan include: • Rehabilitating at least 15 of the historic buildings for a variety of uses, including loft apartments, many of which would be restricted to people 55 and older, thus minimizing the growth in the school population. • Including space for woodworking and other businesses and for maintenance facilities and visitors’ reception for Weir Farm, a nearby national park. • Accommodating a 50,000-square foot YMCA, a black-box theater, and an automobile museum. • Possibly capping the contaminated lagoon and placing the museum and a large garage there. A “geotextile” layer would be installed beneath the garage. • Building 30 detached houses, which Soler says “will sell for more than $1 million each.” Fairfield County is one of the most expensive places in the US to buy a house. Besides becoming a walkable community containing an abundance of live/work units, the site may also get a rail station that would serve people commuting to New York. “We will apply for federal funds but are prepared to build the parking facility and the train station,” Soler says. “To do this, we created the Georgetown Special Tax District.” Soler told the town he would include 44 subsidized apartments for older people if he’s allowed to develop the property more densely. “We told the town, ‘density drives all the benefits,’” he says. “We have a minimum of two-acre zoning in the rest of the town, so this density is a shock,” Ketcham observes. However, the approximately 350 people attending the charrette’s final presentation gave the plan a “very positive” response, Ketcham says. A study by the University of Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis estimates that the municipality would get a net benefit of about $3.5 million a year in tax revenue if the $300 million project is carried out. Soler hopes to win the municipal approvals he needs within six months. He would like to have residents start moving in three years from now, and is aiming for completion in five years. For New England, the project would be a breakthrough. “It’s brownfield and transit-oriented development, and it’s pioneering in size and genuine mixed use for New England New Urbanism,” says architect Patrick Pinnell, who participated in the charrette. More information can be found at www.georgetown land.com.