For sale: Nearly 15 acres of open, developable land along a high-volume traffic corridor near ESPN and Lake Compounce.
With an eye toward future tax revenue and new jobs, Bristol this week began seeking companies that want to buy and develop the land along Route 229. But because of the property’s unusual advantages, the city is resolute about ensuring that one or more high-value businesses set up operations there.
In any heavily built-up city, a single parcel of that size is rare — and Mayor Jeff Caggiano believes that gives Bristol a chance at landing a top-flight developer. It might be one or more manufacturers, a warehouse, a large-scale entertainment venue or retail, or a mix, he said.
“For me, this is about jobs and the ability to continue to be sure we have good employment in the area,” Mayor Jeff Caggiano said Wednesday, hours after Bristol announced the city-owned parcel is available.
“We don’t have a lot of open space to offer something like this. I can think of one 5-acre site that’s privately held, the city doesn’t have it to offer. Our business park is pretty much full,” Caggiano said. “So this is going to offer a great opportunity. It’s huge. And the location is unbelievable.”
Getting the contaminated land cleaned and ready for redevelopment was a nearly decade-long process that cost $3 million and spanned the administrations of three mayors and two governors. After all of that, the city has no interest in simply dealing it to the first qualified buyer.
Instead, Bristol is inviting prospective developers to tour the site on Dec. 3 and then submit detailed proposals by Jan. 7. The city’s economic development commission expects to chose one later in the winter based largely on which one would be feasible and do the most for Bristol’s economic base, add jobs, meet high design standards and otherwise benefit the city.
“This is already zoned industrial, so commercial/industrial works for us. And from the location itself being so close to I-84 and Route 72, ESPN across the street, Lake Compounce and the (DoubleTree) hotel so close — it just fits that mold,” said Justin Malley, the city’s economic development director.
The $3 million environmental cleanup brought the land to a standard suitable for business, but not housing.
“Residential use for the property is not appropriate,” according to the city’s notice to developers. “However the city encourages proposals for commercial development from logistics/warehouse, manufacturing, recreation/tourism, retail and more.”
The tract at 894 Middle St. was farmland until Laviero Metals acquired it in 1953 and ran a scrap metal reclamation operation for more than 20 years. Laviero’s work had contaminated the soils with PCBs and lead by the time the operation shut down in 1977. The company attempted some remediation in the 1980s, but vacated the property altogether in 1990, according to city records.
The city ultimately acquired the land through a tax foreclosure, and more than a decade ago started the long process of getting it ready to be back on the tax rolls. Then-Mayor Ken Cockayne sought to coordinate an environmental cleanup; the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the city put up $66,000 for initial study money.
Between 2014 and 2016, then-Gov. Dannel Malloy’s administration awarded more than $1.4 million through the department of economic and community development. The city ended up putting in more than $1.5 million.
Work began in 2019 under then-Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu, and city leaders credit Gov. Ned Lamont with carrying through on the state’s commitment.
While crews were digging up contaminated soil and wetlands sediment, they discovered area of buried debris with lead, according to a detailed report written by Malley and Public Works Director Raymond Rogozinski.
More than 2,900 tons of PCB-contaminated soil were dug up and hauled off site under supervision of the EPA and the state’s department of energy and environmental protection. The city had soil samples analyzed afterward, and has been doing groundwater monitoring ever since.
“We’ve been through several administrations and every one, including Mayor Jeff’s, has supported us,” Malley said. “We knew back at the start that it was a brownfield, but we also knew NVCOG and the state do a great job of offering grants to assess brownfields and ultimately clean them.”
