Stamford Hall: A Hotel

By Any Other Name

To the Editor:

The Friends of Fairfield Hills have tried to convey information to the public as accurately as possible. As a public service, during the coming weeks we will try to report on various aspects of the selectmen’s master plan for Fairfield Hills. If the writer expresses an opinion, it will be clearly stated as such. The selectmen’s master plan calls for ten buildings to be demolished and eight to be leased to and controlled by private investors. Town groups such as the Senior Center or Friends of the Library might have use of space in Bridgeport Hall in some undetermined arrangement. The Board of Education might take one of the eight above, and Plymouth Hall is listed as nonprofit or town (p. 4 of master plan). I will begin the series with Stamford Hall.

Stamford Hall, 58,240 square feet; asbestos/lead abatement cost (per TRC Environmental Consultants) $262,500; renovation estimate $3,377,920; parking spaces needed 167; cost for parking at $1,000 per space, $167,000. (FFH Advisory Report, March 22, 2000)

Selectmen’s plan: preferred use: Dormitory Residential, reduced in size? No, anticipated sponsor/investor: private (Fairfield Hills Master Plan, February 26, 2003, p. 4). Further described: “Stamford: 40 Dormitory Rooms” FFH Campus Master Plan Draft, shown on map placed before p. 20, January 21, 2003)

Purpose as reported orally: Persons attending conferences to be conducted in Bridgeport Hall used as a Conference Center will need overnight accommodations. I do not know of any estimates by HMA consultants of how much tax revenue might come to the town if Stamford Hall is leased to a private investor.

Opinion: A building providing overnight accommodations is a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, etc. The master plan for FFH calls for Stamford to be leased to a private investor who will operate it as a hotel-like enterprise. We have called it a hotel, but if the master plan committee wishes to explain why it should not be a hotel, it would be helpful to the voters.

Concerns: Approximately $3.5 million will be needed to make Stamford Hall a commercially viable building (Advisory Report of March 22, 2000). Is it appropriate to expect that the owner will need to operate the building seven days a week all year in order to recoup his initial costs and to make a profit? Will it be necessary to offer generous lease terms and tax incentives in order to attract an investor? How much subsidy will the taxpayers provide the investor?

Opinion: The cost of abatement and demolition is estimated to be $443,700 (FFH Advisory Report). Instead of destroying the trees, parking lot, and road near Danbury Hall to make room for four soccer fields that the master plan recommends, a better plan would be to demolish Stamford and nearby Norwalk and make room for two of the planned four soccer fields in the Stamford Hall area or to simply save the land for future municipal needs.

Ruby K. Johnson

16 Chestnut Hill, Sandy Hook                                        June 24, 2003