Council Hears From Another  Developer

By Steve Bigham

Developer Arthur Collins returned to Newtown Wednesday to restate his proposal to develop the core-center of Fairfield Hills into a high-tech business park.

The town is expected to eventually purchase the former state mental health hospital from the state and is looking to bring some economic development to the site.

Mr Collins, speaking to the Legislative Council, said the high-tech industry is expanding dramatically within Connecticut. There is a serious need for space and to suddenly have 700,000 square feet of space become available in Fairfield County is unusual.

Given enough time, Mr Collins said, he believes he could fill the five largest buildings – Canaan, Kent, Shelton, and Greenwich houses and Bridgeport Hall – with dot.com companies. He believes the close proximity to Interstate 84 makes Fairfield Hills an attractive site.

The developer said Fairfield Hills’ buildings feature all the desired physical requirements: high ceilings, heavy floor loading capacity, the presence of fiber optic cabling, and high-speed broad band.

Mr Collins believes going the high-tech route at Fairfield Hills may be the only option.

“You don’t want residential, they’re not building corporate headquarters in the wilderness anymore, you don’t want industrial, you don’t want shopping centers, and there does not appear to be much interest for a college or university there,” he noted. “But there really is a high-tech market out there.”

The Arthur Collins proposal claims the town could receive as much as $4-5 million in revenue each year with little impact on town services or schools. The plan calls for Arthur Collins to purchase the eight or nine buildings in the inner core of the campus from the town. However, the town would retain ownership of the land beneath them and would receive “land rent” generated by the high-tech tenants who move in. Newtown would also receive real estate and property taxes, as well as a percentage of the revenues raised by Arthur Collins.

In addition, the cost to restore, abate, and develop the buildings would be borne by Arthur Collins. The only cost to the town would be the purchase of the land and buildings from the state.

However, Mr Collins admits he will only be able to develop one building at a time and the market will dictate how quickly he will be able to take over the buildings and then lease them out. And until those buildings were developed, as council member Melissa Pilchard pointed out, they would continue to sit there empty, owned by the town, with no revenue. This point seemed to be of some concern to the council members, especially since the market does have its “down times.”

“It’s the town that would be left holding the ball during those down times,” council member John Kortze said.

Mr Collins said his firm would make every effort to meet the town “halfway.”