Several run-down properties in Connecticut are in the process of transforming into hundreds of apartments and job opportunities, as the state works to fix up everything from old paper and textile mills to former greyhound racetracks.
Twenty-two blighted properties statewide will be remediated using nearly $26.3 million in state investment and $112.7 million in private investments. The properties are spread across 17 towns and cities.
“This state program enables us to partner with municipalities and developers to bring these lifeless properties back from the dead,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement.
The properties were chosen as part of the Brownfield Remediation and Development Program run by the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). Brownfield remediation involves cleaning up or demolishing abandoned properties and repurposing the site, which may involve decontaminating former factory land or rehabbing existing housing.
The state looks for ways to bring property value and use back to the areas, DECD Deputy Commissioner Matthew Pugliese said.
“There are different awards that are towards housing as an end use,” Pugliese said. “Some are towards mixed use. One is to create a behavioral health clinic with a significant expansion, and another one is for a public park.”
Improving neighborhoods
Four of the projects will be developed into housing, creating 373 apartments. Of the new housing, 148 units will be considered affordable, according to a statement by Lamont.
The new housing will be in Berlin, New Haven, Norwalk and Vernon.
In Norwalk, a decades-old public housing complex will be demolished and replaced with 55 new apartments. Meadow Gardens demolition is set for this summer, using about $3.3 million in brownfield remediation funding to revamp the site.
Underserved communities are prioritized when considering properties for remediation, Pugliese said.
“We want to be able to preserve green space in development, and we want to be able to redevelop these underused, contaminated and blighted parcels and put them back into productive use for the state,” Pugliese said.
Creating opportunities
About 1,400 jobs will be generated as part of the remediation, state officials estimate, including temporary construction-related positions and employment opportunities at businesses opening in the new properties.
Along with housing, remediated properties will be transformed into public parks, sports stadiums, construction of a museum and a behavioral health clinic, among other developments. Lamont touted the success of the plan.
“Nobody wants to have old, polluted, and blighted properties in their neighborhood that sit vacant for decades,” Lamont said. “Especially when that land could be used to grow new businesses and create housing for people who need it.”
