MANCHESTER — Redevelopment of the Broad Street Parkade is “full steam ahead,” with both town officials and the developer hopeful on financing.
Texas-based developer Anthony Properties, who signed an agreement with the town last year to develop the vacant “dark side” of the Parkade, gave an update on its planned mixed-use development at a Redevelopment Agency meeting Thursday morning.
Brian Shiu, director of development at Anthony Properties, said that financing for developers has improved as a whole in recent months, and Anthony Properties is on the way to securing financing for its Parkade plans. He said though nothing has been signed yet, two different lenders have approached the company to finance the development.
“These two lenders came to us, so that’s good news,” Shiu said.
In keeping with the terms of the development agreement, Shiu said Anthony Properties is on track to file a site plan by the Sept. 22 deadline. The developer will make any necessary changes from the town’s comments, and expects to come before the Planning and Zoning Commission in November.
“Hopefully that’s a ‘one and done’ type meeting,” Shiu said, noting that reception from town staff has been positive thus far.
Director of Planning and Economic Development Gary Anderson said Thursday that he expects Anthony Properties to break ground in the spring if the developer files the application on time and secures all approvals and permits.
Shiu said the project was “treading water” for six to eight months before the Board of Directors agreed to remove 296 Broad St. from the redevelopment plans, as the parcel was causing issues with neighbors over long-standing covenants.
Manchester and Live Work Learn Play, a company brought on to redevelop the Parkade in 2013, discovered that the 3.86-acre dogleg strip had deed restrictions that would affect any major reconfiguration of the property. The town filed a “quiet title action” in 2014 to get clarification on the restrictions from the Superior Court, which ruled in 2016 that neighbors could not veto development as long as it followed a parking plan established in 1982.
The town purchased 296 Broad St. and some land along Green Manor Boulevard in 2018 to try and eliminate the covenants, but Live Work Learn Play’s contract lapsed before the issue was resolved.
The Board of Directors voted unanimously May 6 to authorize the town manager to negotiate an updated development agreement with Anthony Properties in order to remove 296 Broad St.
As a result, Shiu said Thursday morning, Anthony Properties had to remove three residential buildings from its site plan and modify the layout of the development. That reduced the number of units proposed for the site from 300 down to 232, he said.
Shiu said other changes were made to the site plan as well, mostly as a result of “trial and error.” The 48-unit buildings were reconfigured, as Anthony Properties is in the process of constructing buildings in Iowa with the same layout and found that some units were smaller than desired. A clubhouse was reoriented in order to ensure that the planned outdoor pool followed requirements for restroom access.
RDA chairman Aaron Wlochowski said the lender news was what “made (him) smile the most” during the meeting, and that he was very happy with the update.
“I’ve been on here from the start, so I’m looking forward to it a lot,” Wlochowski said.
Formal efforts to redevelop the Parkade began around 2008, when the Board of Directors charged the Redevelopment Agency with creating a plan to overhaul Broad Street. That plan, revised in 2013, covers Broad Street between Middle Turnpike West and Center Street, including the Parkade property and Green Manor Boulevard.
Voters approved $8 million in bonds for redevelopment of Broad Street in 2009, and the town purchased the “dark side” of the Parkade, a blighted 18-acre parcel containing a largely vacant shopping center, in 2011. The shops were torn down in 2012, and town officials approved new zoning to encourage mixed-use, pedestrian oriented development.
Canada-based Live Work Learn Play was tapped to develop the Parkade in 2013, but a contract signed in 2016 expired in 2018 before a shovel got in the ground. Manchester Parkade I LLC, an Easton developer, began negotiations with the town in 2019 and entered a development agreement in 2021, but Manchester cut the contract off in early 2022.
Manchester later paid $2 million to Manchester Parkade I LLC to settle a lawsuit that the developer filed over allegations of a breach of contract, allowing the town to move forward with Anthony Properties as the latest developer for the site.
Article Source: https://www.ctinsider.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-manchester-parkade-broad-street-site-plan-21054743.php