Broker Tells Selectmen—

Individual FFH Buildings Are Not Marketable

By John Voket

Michael Struna, the exclusive broker for the Fairfield Hills Authority and the town, told selectmen that even the most marketable and preferred use of two single commercial buildings at Fairfield Hills would be priced out of the market once the cost of renovations required to occupy those buildings was factored in.

During the latest selectmen’s meeting August 16, Mr Struna said that the most likely way the town will get a developer to utilize Woodbury and Newtown Halls would be to build them into a proposal that is currently on the table to convert the larger Cochran House into a residential facility with predominantly single-bedroom apartments.

The broker, who works with Advantage Realty, told selectmen that it was determined that a single developer would need to spend about $4 million each to ready either Woodbury or Newtown Hall for commercial occupancy. He said although commercial medical is a highly marketable use for either or both buildings, once the cost of renovation was factored in, the lease cost per square foot before the town realized any revenue from a long-term lease would be well above what is being charged for brand new space in the region.

“The economics of a single building just does not work,” Mr Struna said. “It has to be part of a larger project.”

Mr Struna said while there is a possibility of working a viable deal on Woodbury and Newtown Halls if leased for a shared use in tandem, the greatest likelihood for financial success would combine “an investment in Cochran House, plus the readaptive use of other buildings.”

The broker also pointed out that such a deal would also save the town the approximately $2 million in demolition costs for each of the facilities.

“And once a building comes down, there are no further tax benefits going forward,” Mr Struna said.

He also told the selectmen that in the next few days, they would be able to access independent data that would reassure town officials and taxpayers that the proposed residential development of Cochran House, with 100 single and about 60 two-bedroom units, would not generate a substantial number of new students in the local school district.

Going to two different sources, Mr Struna reported that about half of the 60 two-bedroom units would be projected to have children, and of the children in the remaining 30 units, about 13 percent, would not attend Newtown’s public schools.

He mentioned that the idea of combining residential and mixed commercial and recreational usage in single reuse projects is a growing component of “smart growth programs around the country.” He also said adding the foot traffic a residential facility would bring to Fairfield Hills would help reduce the cost of security, and defeat the notion that “Fairfield Hills goes dark after 5 pm.”

The broker said he wanted to address these and other points to the selectmen in the face of rumors and misinformation about the proposal that were circulating in the community. And he added that if the Cochran House proposal ever came to fruition, it would not require the installation of any additional parking lots.

The selectmen reminded Mr Struna that they vowed to not go on the record discussing or recommending anything as far as the changes the broker and an interested developer were pitching, as a courtesy to the recently seated Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee.

Mr Struna said that a nationally known developer was prepared to invest as much as $27–$28 million in the project, if a residential component was eventually approved. The current master plan restricts any residential use at Fairfield Hills.