City seeks proposals for prime real estate

Officials: Move would greatly enhance longtime plans for reclaiming Connecticut riverfront

MIDDLETOWN — The city has put out a call to those interested in developing a multiuse complex on 3.5 acres of prime downtown real estate with sweeping views of the Connecticut River.

A request for qualifications, a method of screening companies ahead of the bid soliciting process, was issued Friday, according to Mayor Ben Florsheim.

The move would greatly enhance the city’s plan for riverfront development, officials said. Already, the creation of a sewage pump station on

East Main Street allowed the decommissioning of the River Road facility water treatment plant.

The deteriorating, 50-year-old, city-owned arcade parking facility off Court Street was razed in March 2018. In its stead sits a temporary, single-level gravel lot, with access from Dingwall Drive via Main Street or deKoven Drive. Police use the adjacent area to park their vehicles.

“We’re really excited about the potential of that site. It is one of the most significant development opportunities anywhere in Connecticut — in New England. Parking will be a component of any project that comes forward,” as well as housing and commercial elements, Florsheim said.

The city is seeking developer qualifications

for purchasing and developing a 1.5-acre city-owned parcel at 60 Dingwall Drive, as well as the potential of two adjacent 1-acre sites: the police parking area at the rear of 222 Main St.; and 195 deKoven Drive, owned by the car service business Attention to Detail.

The latter may be included in the final proposal, according to the city.

The three sites overlook the Connecticut River in both directions and provide access to both Middletown’s

classic downtown and its riverfront via Harbor Park, according to the RFQ.

The city is interested in forming a public-private partnership in providing an “iconic development which will bring people and business to downtown, provide places for people to live and work and become a regional attraction,” the RFQ said.

For decades, the city has pushed to reconnect downtown with the riverfront at Harbor Park, since Route 9 north and south obscures much of that view.

“We really want to make sure that site is doing what it should be doing, which is

contributing to the tax base, and the community feel of downtown Middletown,” Florsheim said.

The land offers panoramic views of the Connecticut River. Each parcel is located in the city’s federally designated opportunity zone, which offers developers a low-risk project due to the city’s economically vibrant and historically iconic downtown and close affiliation with Wesleyan University and major employers, including Pratt and Whitney, Middlesex Health and the Community Health Center, according to the RFQ.

“What I’m really hoping

to see from the proposal we end up going with is something that really operates also as a community space” — much more than just housing alone, Florsheim said.

“There are a lot of apartment buildings going up all over the state and the country. We could just put up an apartment building, but I think something that incorporates the need for downtown housing, the need for downtown economic development, that’s incredibly important to have that element be a part of it.”

The mayor is hoping to see a unique proposal that would draw people from

throughout Middletown, as well as statewide.

Ideas can include developing the site for mixed uses such as housing, offices, shopping, entertainment and dining; providing a place where the public can gather and enjoy the river; and a building that would fit in to the context of the historic downtown in both scale and design. The project is to include a public parking component, the city said.

The idea of building another Blue Back Square mixed-use development in West Hartford Center, which transformed the landscape, has been floated

around the city for some time, Florsheim acknowledged. The viability of project that sprawling likely wouldn’t be a good fit for Middletown, and an investment that large is a big gamble.

Still, “that’s the spirit of what we’re hoping to have,” Florsheim said. “There are elements of that which would be appealing, but there’s also an element of, ‘do we want to go too far on a mall/retail model we know has been questionable in the past?’ There’s a lot of exciting potential there.”

The deadline for applications is March 31.

Contributed photo An aerial view of the former arcade parking lot between Court Street and Dingwall Drive in Middletown. The garage was knocked down last spring, and a temporary gravel surface was laid in its place.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim