Selectmen Lay The Groundwork For The Sale Of Queen St Properties

By Kaaren Valenta

The planned sale of the town-owned houses on Queen Street continued to move forward this week as First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said local realtors had volunteered to do appraisals of the properties.

“William Pitt offered to do a CMA – a competitive market analysis – of the properties,” Mr Rosenthal told the Board of Selectmen Wednesday night. “I talked to other realtors so we will have four or five doing CMAs. If a variety of firms are doing [the CMAs] we should come up with a good idea of what the properties are worth.”

Mr Rosenthal said he asked the Board of Realtors to put the information in its weekly newsletter so that any realtor who is interested could do a CMA as a public service.

“The town won’t list the houses with any realtor, so there is nothing in it for them,” he said. “The alternative is to hire an appraiser, but I don’t think it is necessary to spend the money.”

Town officials plan to sell six houses and five lots through an auction.

Mr Rosenthal said most realtors told him the town would get more money for the properties if they were sold in a competitive live auction rather than through sealed bids.

Selectman Joe Bojnowski said the town might try selling just one property in an auction to see how the process works before selling all of them.

“We shouldn’t start with the highest priced one,” Selectman Bill Brimmer said. “We should start with one of the others.”

Mr Rosenthal said a professional auctioneer will be needed, preferably one who would work on a fee basis.

“I was approached by an auctioneer in town, but this firm wanted a percentage of the sale price,” the first selectman said. “I think a flat fee is the way to go, unless that isn’t the usual way properties are auctioned.”

Mr Rosenthal said some of the realtors may want to bring in a building consultant to evaluate the condition of the houses before estimating what the properties are worth.

“[Builder] Mike Porco assisted us two years ago and gave us an estimate then of what needs to be done, but some realtors might want to use their own builder,” he said.

Mr Rosenthal said that as soon as the market analyses are done, he will forward the results to the other selectmen.

Residents approved the sale of the town-owned Queen Street properties in a town meeting on August 24.  The town purchased the homes from the state two years ago for $1.2 million following the closing of Fairfield Hills Hospital. The homes once housed Fairfield Hills staff members.

The town’s intention was to acquire the homes to avoid future development there, then eventually sell them for a profit. Each property will be sold with deed restrictions requiring them to remain single-family units. The town is keeping two of the lots to use for recreation or open space.

Interest in the small to mid-size homes has been huge as potential buyers have crowded Edmond Town Hall’s phone lines and the first selectman’s office with questions.

Mr Rosenthal reminded the other selectmen Wednesday night that the properties that are within the borough are at least one-acre lots, and those within the town are one-half acre or more.

“The state did look at the zoning when dividing them, so we don’t have to go to the Planning & Zoning Commission for a subdivision,” he said. 

Mr Rosenthal also referred the selectmen to the letter from builder Kim Danzinger that was published in The Bee two weeks ago. In the letter, Mr Danzinger made many suggestions about the process of disposing of the Queen Street properties.