The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fate of arts building uncertain
Health center, soup kitchen proposals move ahead for North End site
MIDDLETOWN — The Economic Development Commission selected two of three proposals for occupying the former Green Street Teaching and Learning Center building to move ahead in the bid process.
The facility, at 51 Green St. in the city’s North End, was run by Wesleyan University from January 2005 until until last July. The school leased the building from the city for $1 annually.
“The plan was that over time, the programs would become self-sustaining through private and foundation support,” Wesleyan spokesperson Lauren Rubenstein said in 2017. “Sustainability has proven elusive. Wesleyan has spent more than $4 million on these programs, a significant percentage of which has gone to overhead expenses.”
Bids from a group called the Middletown Green Community Center, the Community Health Center and St. Vincent De Paul Middletown were entertained at the EDC meeting Tuesday night at the police station community room.
Common Councilman Gerry Daley, leader of the committee, said there were two tie votes before the panel arrived at its 3-1 decision to move ahead the health center and soup kitchen proposals.
The first motion, that the mayor move forward and negotiate with St. Vincent De Paul, was 2-2, with councilors Deb Kleckowski and Phil Pessina voting no and Robert Santangelo and Daley yes. A second motion, to allow the CHC to proceed, resulted in another 2-2 vote, with Daley and Kleckowski against, and Pessina and Santangelo in favor.
After that stalemate, a third motion was considered to send the CHC and SVDM plans to Mayor Dan Drew for his approval. The result was a 3-1 vote, with Kleckowski a yay.
The CHC would move its New Britain office to the arts center, and the SVDM would move its soup kitchen and administrative offices to the building.
“I don’t take it as a defeat,” said Jeff Hush, founder of the Middletown Green Community Center. “Our innovative center is the heart of the community, and the hope for the future of our youth. It should stay where it is. Let’s not take the community center out of our community.”
Green Street is “better designed to serve more people and to better advance our community and the local economy. Arts, health and technology serve youth and adults,” he said.
As far as financials, he said his board has several experienced fundraisers.
“We will bring in the money to sustain our center and make it thrive,” Hush said.
“I don’t believe that building should be gutted for offices,” Kleckowski said. “It’s a state-of-the-art building designed specifically for the arts, with a sound room, music room, dance floor, and if that building is gutted, the arts will never have another opportunity to have a building of that caliber.”
Local NAACP President Faith Jackson, Middletown resident and state trubadour Nikita Waller and Wesleyan graduate and musician Banning Eyre were among supporters of the MGCC plan.
Shanay Fulton, who is on the MGCC board, said both her group and St. Vincent De Paul put forth compelling proposals that feed a growing need.
“(SVDM needs) to expand, and our youth need a home to cultivate their talents,” she said. “While I appreciate what (SVDM) does for the community, it does nothing to help our youth in the long term.
“CHC spoke on their financials and buying power. Instead of buying up more properties, they can do what they said and continue to be so invested in the community,” said the Middletown schools employee who runs a youth-based program through the North End Action Team. “Our initiative is based on STEAM: science, technology, engineering, arts and math. All of which is our future.”
“The reality is we’ve run out of space,” said St. Vincent De Paul Middletown executive director Ethel Higgins.
Also, the current building, which has been in the same location for 40 years, is without an elevator, making it difficult or even impossible for clients with limited mobility to access the upper two levels, she said.
“It’s important for us to continue to serve and expand our programs to make sure we really meet the needs of the community. We’re so much more than a soup kitchen,” she said, referring to the organization’s Amazing Grace Food Pantry and community assistance and supportive housing programs. “We really need to educate the community that we’re not just what you see out front from 7 a.m. to 2 or 3 (every day).”
Under city ordinance, the EDC is an advisory board that makes recommendations to Drew and the Common Council for any interest in city property not under another agency’s jurisdiction, Daley said. The mayor’s decision requires council approval, Daley said.
“The first concern (about the MGGC plan) is what legal entity would the city be entering into an agreement with. “They don’t exist as a legal entity — it’s a group of people.”
The MGCC proposal included $50,000 funds from the Working Cities Challenge Grant.
“That is impossible. The city isn’t the grantee, the United Way is the grantee, and that money is spoken for. They don’t have any evidence of firm financial commitments,” Daley said.
Daley said he appreciates the array of “very talented and impressive people” involved in the plan, but he had questions about the project’s success.
He agrees with Kleckowski’s argument the building was designed for an arts purpose and would require renovations. The other two groups, he believes, would be able to afford that.
“The thing I like most about (the CHC’s idea) is it would bring jobs into the North End, so that would generate economic activity,” he said.
The health center proposed paying $30,000 for seven years and suggested the city use that money toward its possible purchase of the facility, and the SVDM had an “outstanding proposal,” Daley said.
He commended the soup kitchen, food pantry and other programs SVDM provides, saying they would bring “consistent stability to the area.”
“These are needy folks we have in our community. We do very little for them. This is an opportunity to do something,” he said
Messages for the Community Health Center spokesperson were not returned Thursday.