Claris Sees Woodbury Hall Project Start This Summer

By Kendra Bobowick

With a timeframe of “as soon as possible” in mind, Claris Construction Inc President and Newtown resident Phil Clark wants to tear down and rebuild Woodbury Hall into office and retail space. He said, “I would love to see a summer start” to an estimated 12- to 16-month project.

Mr Clark envisions his company’s offices relocated from their current 153 South Main Street address to the upper floors of a 30,000-square-foot, three-story structure with retail space on the first floor. The total investment of razing the existing structure and rebuilding in its footprint is $5 million, in his estimate.

“The teardown really drives the costs,” he said, which will involve hazardous material remediation.

Mr Clark proposes to use Woodbury Hall’s footprint saying, “It can’t be saved. We’ll rebuild.” Like the Newtown Youth Academy, which Claris Construction built several years ago, and which fits with the current architecture on the campus, Mr Clark said the new office and retail building will also blend in. “We’ll try to save the columns” that stand outside the entrance to Woodbury Hall, he said.

He described the proposed new building as high performance and environmentally friendly. “It won’t be entirely off the grid, but it will be efficient.”

Both business and personal reasons are driving his interest in space at the former state hospital campus. Increasing his Claris office space aside, he said, “As a taxpayer it bothers me that nothing is happening [in terms of Fairfield Hills reuse].” Since the town purchased more than 180 acres of the state’s land and buildings in 2001 at Fairfield Hills, plans that developed in following years for leasing the buildings and revitalizing the campus have stalled. Although the town refinished one former hospital building into the Newtown Municipal Center and resident Peter D’Amico invested in new construction to build the Newtown Youth Academy, none of the other buildings have been reused. Thinking that his investment might spark others’ interests, Mr Clark said, “Maybe other developers will follow suit.”

Past years have seen offers, the most recent from one New York investor with an interest in renovating Cochran House into apartment space — a concept that residents strongly opposed.

Although the Fairfield Hills Authority and First Selectman Pat Llodra discussed Mr Clark’s interest in Woodbury Hall at a February 15 authority meeting, they have not yet received formal paperwork.

Both town officials and Fairfield Hills Authority members are working with Mr Clark on this project, which was first mentioned at that same meeting.

The first selectman is “excited about the prospect of having a project such as this on the campus.” It’s one of three things taking place in that corner of Fairfield Hills that will make a “tremendous difference in that area,” she said. The Newtown Ambulance Association is pursuing plans to build a two-story, five-bay building adjacent to the Woodbury Hall site, and the town has a $400,000 grant that Mrs Llodra wants to apply to parking, lighting, curbing, and infrastructure also in that section of Fairfield Hills. “There are a lot of pieces but it seems to be coming together well,” she said.

Terms for a land lease for Woodbury have not yet been discussed.

The developer, Claris, will incur costs to raze and remediate Woodbury Hall, and like any lease scenario, terms must be drawn for the specific project, Mrs Llodra explained.

She has suggested that the authority “turn the lease process over to an attorney to be sure the lease reflects the upfront costs to the developer, but at the same time it’s the town’s land and the town should garner some revenue.”

The Board of Selectmen, Planning and Zoning Commission, and the town’s Land Use Agency will all be involved in the process.