Newtown Hall at Fairfield Hills is still waiting for prospective tenants. -- Bee Photo, Bobowick
Danbury Hospital is halting a planned development of medical offices at Fairfield Hills, in part, citing economic uncertainty. As a result, the pending lessee, Hawley Fairfield Hills, LLC cannot fulfill a major condition of its contract by guaranteeing to the town a minimum level of occupancy in the facility.
Separate announcements sealing the fate on this protracted lease proposal were presented to First Selectman Joe Borst in recent days from the hospital and the Hawley subsidiary.
In November 2007, the Fairfield Hills Authority made public the likelihood of a 40-year land lease agreement with Hawley Realty, the development wing of Hawley Construction Corporation of Danbury. The developer was to complete renovations to what officials described as the "shell" of a former state hospital building known as Newtown Hall, complete all hazardous materials remediation, interior outfitting and ADA compliance to meet the current state and local building codes.
The finished facility was to serve as a base for several local hospital-affiliated medical care providers, as well as a new home for Kevin's Community Center, Newtown's free adult health clinic.
While the town and the authority honored two requests for lease extensions from the Hawley representatives, Danbury Hospital was trying to manage uncertainties related to the Newtown facility's pending occupancy, according to President Frank Kelly.
Mr Kelly told
The Bee
that the hospital tried to first explore leasing 5,000 to 6,000 square feet in the renovated facility to support "an urgent care based program." But Mr Kelly said after canvassing local physicians affiliated with the hospital, who were under consideration as long-term tenants, those doctors eventually came back saying "they could handle growth at their (existing) offices in town."
The hospital then tried to attract enough affiliated specialty care physicians to the planned facility, who would, in turn, supplement the local primary care professionals. Mr Kelly said this initiative was also unsuccessful.
He concluded that these developments, along with an "economic shift, forced the hospital reallocate capital funding to other areas." While Mr Kelly could not discuss the specifics of those capital plans, he did say that the plans included facilities or programs "that will serve Newtown and other communities."
The hospital's decision was detailed in an embargoed press release that was sent to the First Selectman's office February 5. On February 3, a law firm representing the Hawley subsidiary sent an eight-line notice to Mr Borst indicating that as of January 30, 2009, the proposed tenant was "unable to comply with section 1A.5 of the lease."
That stipulation was tied to Hawley guaranteeing a minimum occupancy, according to Fairfield Hills Authority chair Bob Geckle. Mr Kelly indicated the hospital plans to make "good faith reimbursements" to the town for costs incurred in anticipation of the organization taking over space at Newtown Hall.
Despite the pending gesture, Mr Geckle said he was extremely disappointed the hospital was not moving forward with its commitment to Newtown on this project.
"At this point we are going to aggressively pursue re-marketing this property," Mr Geckle said, adding that the authority would entertain future proposals from the hospital "if and when the hospital is ready."
Dr Z Michael Taweh, the founder and director of Kevin's Community Center said while he had not received formal notice of the project's status, he was ready to work with town officials and the authority to ensure the clinic would re-establish itself at Fairfield Hills once it is forced to vacate current space in leased town office space on Peck's Lane.
Subsequent to the clinic's plan to share office space with the proposed Hawley tenants at Newtown Hall, KCC received a $500,000 state grant which was designated for underwriting development of the leased building. Dr Taweh was unsure about how to move forward, and did not know if the grant would be jeopardized by the recent developments.
"We are still committed to Fairfield Hills, but it will obviously have to be a different building and a different location," Dr Taweh said. "I hope this doesn't complicate matters. We still hope to satisfy the conditions of the grant and to use it for a (new clinic) at Fairfield Hills."