Fairfield Hills Closing Is Imminent

By John Voket

Superstition is the only thing keeping Newtown’s First Selectman from predicting a Friday closing date on the deal that will transfer the Fairfield Hills complex from the state to the town. But based on a sequence of events that transpired Wednesday, that milestone is imminent.

“As far as the town is concerned, there’s no work left to be done,” First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal told The Bee late Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve signed everything that needs to be signed — there were so many documents I thought my hand was going to fall off!”

Although Mr Rosenthal said a combination of his own superstition and his personal experience with many residential closings prevent him from saying the deal will be done, he relented that, “it could be done Friday, certainly before next Wednesday.”

He settled on a comfortable but open-ended time frame: “Let’s say a matter of days, maybe hours.”

What is standing between the state’s transfer and Newtown’s accepting of the 180-plus acre parcel?

“It won’t be done until the town is in possession of the signed Environmental Liability policy, until the Attorney General’s office signs off on the transfer, until the documents are officially recorded, and until the money actually changes hands,” Mr Rosenthal replied. “But that can all transpire very quickly. I believe there is also another state commissioner who has to also sign off, but we’re that close.”

He said he has seen too many real estate transactions delayed at the 11th hour to be any more specific. But once the deal is completed, Mr Rosenthal is hoping to have an official ceremony on the campus to mark the occasion, including one very special neighbor.

“I’d like to arrange it so our new governor can be here for the ceremonial activities,” Mr Rosenthal said.

The closing on Fairfield Hills will cap more than 13 years of uncertainty, according to State Representative Julia Wasserman. It was the fall of 1991 when she first began unofficially inquiring about the town acquiring some or all of the hospital campus for future use and development.