The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Newtown marks 4 Fairfield Hills buildings for demolition
NEWTOWN — The southwest quadrant of the town’s Fairfield Hills campus is slated to be cleared of four empty red brick buildings that hearken to a century ago, when the property was a thriving hospital.
“We don’t want to demolish them, but we have no current use for them,” said Christal Preszler, Newtown’s deputy director of economic and community development. “Those buildings are on the list to be demolished.”
The buildings in question, which are still known by their names when the hospital housed 4,000 psychiatric patients and 3,000 staff, would not be demolished all at once but over the next decade, at a cost to Newtown of more than $10 million, according to town documents.
The four buildings – Plymouth Hall, Stamford Hall, Norwalk Hall and Cochran House, are southwest of the last large former hospital building that was demolished in 2016 – the 225,000-square-foot Canaan House. In its place is Newtown’s $15 million community center and $3 million senior center.
As much as residents have come to appreciate the character of the colonial relics, leaders say taxpayers can’t continue to maintain deteriorating buildings with hazardous materials that are not well suited for redevelopment.
Until recently two other large red brick hulks were in the same category. But developers with a plan to use federal tax credits to build age-restricted housing in the old buildings started a two-year process in which Newtown voters approved rezoning the campus to allow a limited number of apartments, and the town asked for developers to put in their best bids.
The winning bid came from a Boston developer in July, who proposed redeveloping Kent House and Shelton House with a mix of apartments and commercial uses.
The successful bidder Winn Development still has a series of applications to make and approvals to pursue, including site plan approval from Newtown’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
Meanwhile, the town hasn’t given up marketing smaller former hospital buildings on campus for commercial reuse. Newtown points to the successful redevelopment of Stratford House into the NewSylum Brewing Company, and the conversion of one of the campus’ so-called duplexes into the headquarters of a non-profit.
Other smaller buildings the town believes have commercial reuse potential include Newtown Hall, the 16,000-square-foot former hospital administration building, with a distinctive clock tower.
The marketing effort is part of a long-term strategy to transform the 185acre campus into the civic and cultural center of town.
The only way demolition would be forestalled is if developers stepped forward, Preszler said.
“We would love to speak to someone who is interested in one of these buildings,” Preszler said. “We don’t know of any other options.”