Norwich officials finalizing parking plan to keep state DCF in downtown

Agency leases almost all of Shannon Building, but city has opposed move

Norwich — An agreement is being finalized that would lease all 150 available spaces in the city-owned Main Street and Market Street parking garages to the state Department of Children and Families in an effort to keep the state agency in downtown.

DCF leases nearly the entire five-story Shannon Building at the junction of Main Street and Courthouse Square, with an estimated 180 to 200 employees in the building. The lease expired more than two years ago, and state officials last winter considered departing the downtown hub to lease a building in the Norwich Business Park.

City officials have opposed the proposed move, and building owner Jason Ziegler has been attempting to secure a new lease with the state for the past several months.

DCF staff and state cars now use 183 spaces in the open-air Viaduct lot off Route 12 a few blocks from the Shannon Building. Under the new agreement, all public parking would shift to the Viaduct lot, and the two garages would have no public spaces.

The Public Parking Commission approved the proposed lease in August, and it is now under review by state and city legal officials, with some revisions expected, city Parking Administrator Judi Rizzuto said.

The agreement calls for Ziegler's ownership group, Nassi Connecticut Realty LLC, to pay the parking commission $55 per space, a total of $8,250 per month for 150 spaces to be reserved for DCF state-registered vehicles and for staffs' personal vehicles. Ziegler now is paying about $9,000 per month to lease 183 spaces for DCF in the Viaduct lot, Rizzuto said.

Rizzuto said a copy of the agreement could not be released because it still is undergoing revisions.

The agreement includes the 25 spaces already leased by DCF in the

Market Street garage, 12 additional spaces there and all 113 available public spaces in the Main Street garage. The top two floors of the Market Street garage are leased by the state Judicial Branch.

Rizzuto said the DCF agreement would not displace leased spaces by other downtown businesses in the two garages.

The Market Street garage always has been open on weekends for local events, and that would remain available. Some spaces in the Main Street garage would be available on weekends, she said.

The agreement would be good for five years, with two five-year renewal provisions, Rizzuto said, but a start date has not been set and would depend on state approval by the state Department of Administrative Services and the state attorney general’s office.

Ziegler could not be reached for comment Tuesday on the status of securing a lease agreement with the state to keep DCF in downtown.