Following nearly 20 years of the vacant Newtown Hall building on the Fairfield Hills campus languishing unoccupied, the town is suddenly facing competing offers for the former state hospital administration building.

EverWonder Children’s Museum of Newtown had submitted a letter of intent asking for 18 months to fundraise and make an offer for the building in August. Then, 1st Financial Bank USA, with headquarters in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, submitted a letter of intent for the building in September.

The intent of the bank was to utilize the historic structure as corporate headquarters for Premier Financial Services, one of its subsidiaries that administers financing for vintage and luxury vehicles. The midwestern financial institution recently acquired Premier, which had been located in neighboring Woodbury.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal told The Newtown Bee on October 11 that following social media posts by EverWonder last week, 1st Financial Bank decided to step aside to give EverWonder an “opportunity to see if they can make it work.”

Following the bank withdrawing from immediate consideration, EverWonder Executive Director Merredith Christos offered “thanks to the town residents, businesses, and friends who have stood by, shown up, and voiced [their] opinion to the town.”

“We are beyond grateful for the opportunity to further pursue our dream of Newtown Hall,” said Christos.

In a modified social media post that originally appeared over last weekend, EverWonder Board of Directors Chairman Aaron Coopersmith said EverWonder “is awaiting further instruction and signed agreements from the Fairfield Hills [Authority] and the town of Newtown.”

“On behalf of the executive board of EverWonder and all of its supporters I am delighted,” said Coopersmith in a statement to The Bee. “It has been a roller-coaster ride and the ride is far from over. Newtown Hall is a gorgeous gem.

“The staff of EverWonder and its highly supportive community are all excited for this opportunity,” he continued. “The Board of Directors of EverWonder feel that the addition of the museum to the Fairfield Hills Campus will add additional value to all of the people of Newtown, both monetarily and philanthropically.”

By bringing in tens of thousands of out-of-town visitors to the museum to utilize Newtown’s ample restaurants and businesses, Coopersmith believes the museum, if successfully completed, will help make the town-owned campus a destination.

“We are investing in the future through our mission of positively contributing to the development of a child’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills. Dovetailing with NYA, The Community Center, Arts Festival, Farmers Market, Victory Garden, Reed School, etc, it makes sense in terms of how Newtown would like to see such an important location develop,” he said.

“We are so grateful to First Financial Bank for seeing the value in our mission and wanting to give us the best opportunity to see it to its full potential. It speaks volumes to their character and values,” Coopersmith added. “We hope they find a spot in Newtown because these are the types of individuals and businesses we want to grow our town’s future with.”

Original Plan Modified

Rosenthal said after hearing of the FFHA’s decision to submit 1st Financial Bank’s letter of intent to the BOS, he had initially intended to give both 1st Financial Bank and EverWonder eight weeks to submit new letters of intent with final offers, and the town would then consider between the two.

However, with the bank pulling their bid from consideration, Rosenthal said he still intends to give EverWonder eight weeks to pull together their plan.

“We’re going to handle it the same way we would any offer,” said Rosenthal. “We will ask them to demonstrate their financials and make an offer. Assuming that works, we’ll negotiate a lease. Failing that, the building is in play for whoever would want it.”

Rosenthal said that while 1st Financial is currently looking for other locations, it may still be interested if the building is still available in eight weeks.

Concerning Rosenthal’s plan to allow EverWonder eight weeks to make a new offer, Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Ross Carley said the FFHA had made its decision in favor of 1st Financial and he “didn’t know we gave re-dos.”

“I hope [Rosenthal] is not folding to online pressure,” said Carley. “But that’s his decision, he can do that.”

Coopersmith and Christos both declined to comment on the first selectman’s timeline until they see something in writing from the town.

On October 3, the FFHA met to consider both letters of intent, to make a decision between the two competing offers. According to the minutes of the meeting, Economic and Community Development Deputy Director Christal Preszler told the commission that both the bank and EverWonder are “really good choices.”

“EverWonder is great for Newtown and is a destination,” Preszler stated in the minutes. “The timing and funding of the bank puts them in a better position to be chosen.”

The minutes state that the FFHA members “all agreed that they would like to see EverWonder find the best building in town for their growing museum.” The FFHA then unanimously recommended submitting 1st Financial Bank’s letter to the Board of Selectmen for final consideration.

Carley said many on the FFHA have been involved with EverWonder, and were sympathetic to their request. He said several were leaning towards choosing them for Newtown Hall, but two board members said that 1st Financial was “a no-brainer.”

After examining the offers, FFHA as a group decided 1st Financial was the best offer for the town.

“The town would get lease money, it would get tax money — all the burden would be taken off the town,” said Carley. “It was a good deal all around.”

The decision to go with 1st Financial wasn’t “last minute,” according to Carley. “We had been deliberating for a month. We looked at all the ins and outs and came to our decision.”

Unlimited Funds

Carley said in its decision, FFHA members noted that EverWonder was “vague on financing,” while 1st Financial was “very forward with the fact they had unlimited funds to complete the project.”

Carley noted that EverWonder has expressed interest in “every building [on the Fairfield Hills campus] over the last ten years, but could never come up with the financing.”

“Now they say they can,” said Carley.

Carley noted that 1st Financial wanted the building as is, was offering to purchase it outright, which would bring taxes in to town — and was asking for no additional land for parking, which would all be negotiated in a lease for the land on which the building is located.

EverWonder didn’t want to purchase the building; it is a tax-exempt nonprofit, and Carley said, wants additional land to fence in for outside activities and extra parking.

“Parking has always been an issue at Fairfield Hills,” said Carley.

Carley also noted that Newtown Hall is an office building, with “several small offices and a reception desk,” as well as narrow hallways and no elevator.

“We tried to tell them at the outset that [the museum] doesn’t look like a good fit for the space,” said Carley.

EverWonder representatives have been “looking at the building for over a year,” but have brought “no architects and no structural engineers” to evaluate the building for space needs, said Carley.

“And now they want another 18 months,” said Carley.

In an October 7 e-mail to The Newtown Bee, Christos stated: “We had completed our Letter of Intent and presented to the Fairfield Hills Authority on 9/26, as a formality to officially take Newtown Hall to the next stage through bringing in a structural engineer (hired & waiting) and then architect (chosen & waiting) to accurately get us the cost of renovating the building to a children’s museum.”

Carley said 1st Financial had reportedly employed an engineer and an architectural firm to review the building, and were proposing to close the deal with the town within six weeks.

During deliberations and before knowing about 1st Financial stepping away from its offer, Carley said FFHA members were concerned about waiting 18 months for EverWonder to make its decision. And if EverWonder decided Newtown Hall was not a good fit or not affordable, he said the 1st Financial offer would be long gone.

‘Poisoned The Well’

Carley expressed concern that EverWonder had “poisoned the well” for interest in Newtown Hall.

“It’s almost as if they [EverWonder] are forcing us to allow them to occupy Newtown Hall,” said Carley.

Rosenthal said the museum has been expressing an interest in Newtown Hall over a “long period of time,” and the letter of intent was asking for an additional 18 months to make an offer.

The first selectman said he could not justify placing a long-term hold on the building, adding that the only promise ever made to EverWonder was that Newtown Hall could be available to them as long as no one else wanted the building.

“I won’t agree to take the building off the market for 18 months while someone decides if they can come up with the money,” said Rosenthal. “That’s not realistic. It’s too big an ask. We can’t justify a long-term hold on the building.”

Rosenthal was also concerned with an early version of the museum’s letter of intent, which was asking for the rent to be $1 per year, which Rosenthal characterized as “giving the building away for free.”

Rosenthal noted that Newtown Hall was formerly an administrative building and is set up for office use, making it a good fit for the bank’s intended use.

“As far as lifts in renovating the building go, it’s already configured to be an administrative building,” said Rosenthal.

According to online information, 1st Financial Bank was established in 1910, provides credit cards, construction finance, rental investment property loans, community banking, as well as vintage and luxury car financing through one of its subsidiaries, Premier Financial Services.

Contrary to some suggestions on social media posts, the company only operates bank branches in the vicinity of its Midwest headquarters.

The letter of intent from 1st Financial, obtained by The Newtown Bee, said that in bringing Premier Financial Services’ headquarters to Newtown Hall, it would bring 35 jobs to Newtown with the promise that staff would grow 25% over the next five years.

The letter said that 1st Financial would “conduct due diligence” in reviewing the building over six weeks and “following the conclusion of that successful due diligence,” enter into a written purchase agreement. 1st Financial had hired Maier Design Group LLC, an architectural firm specializing in the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and historic restorations, to review Newtown Hall and potentially do design work.

Maier Design Group was recently affiliated with the renovation of Hartford’s iconic Colt building, now part of the Colt Gateway development.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.