A Lease Is Signed—

Redevelopment Of FFH

Takes Its First Significant Step

By Kendra Bobowick

“Are you planning to sign the leases?” Legislative Council Chairman William Rodgers asked.

“I could sign right now if you want me to,” First Selectman Joseph Borst said.

“That would be glorious,” Mr Rodgers replied.

Asking for witnesses, Mr Borst was soon accompanied by town attorney David Grogins and Republican Selectman Paul Mangiafico, who leaned in to watch the first selectman sign his name on a lease agreement with Hawley Realty for the redevelopment of Newtown Hall.

With that swipe of a pen, Mr Borst’s signature set out a fresh welcome mat to developers interested in renovating designated space at Fairfield Hills, ending more than a year of serious negotiations over key aspects of the campus’s redevelopment.

Acknowledging the milestone was Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Robert Geckle. “It’s a start,” he said. Mr Geckle said he feels as if he has been waiting “since forever,” to see new life within the park-like fields and narrow streets that Newtown purchased after the state closed its former psychiatric hospital in the late 1990s.

As the Board of Selectman broke Monday night, Mr Geckle paused and glanced at the faces in the room — Selectmen Herb Rosenthal and Paul Mangiafico, First Selectman Joseph Borst, and others who had all been caught in struggles pushing both for and against the Fairfield Hills plans in the last year.

“It’s been something else,” he said.

Offering to sign the leases “right now” was a far cry from statements Mr Borst had made following his November election to office. Backed by the Independent Party of Newtown, which expressed concerns with the costs of revamping the vacant brick buildings and relocating town offices at Bridgeport Hall at the heart of the campus, Mr Borst’s words shook developers who had been poised to sign leases.

The new first selectman questioned the Fairfield Hills commercial development plans, and threatened to delay or stop a municipal office project commonly viewed as a draw for related commercial projects. At a Board of Selectmen in December, his fellow board members forced him to acknowledge his responsibility to sign the lease under threat of formally transferring that responsibility to Selectman Paul Mangiafico.

Although Mr Borst sealed a deal on a lease agreement with Hawley Realty for the reuse and renovation of space where Danbury Hospital will expand services in roughly 6,000 square feet, he said he did so with reservations.

If measured in effort, emotion, cash, and politics, Fairfield Hills leaves a larger imprint than the 186 acres of ground it occupies. This month the former state hospital’s progress toward economic redevelopment and reuse as a hub for town and education offices has rallied after staggering through a political struggle that tripped up former first selectman Herb Rosenthal in his campaign for reelection.

Soon, the hunched, vacant brick buildings that break up the skyline traced with treetops and open fields will be home to Danbury Hospital services. As the meeting quieted Monday, Mr Geckle said, “This will be great for citizens of Newtown to have a medical facility.” Kevin’s Community Center is also “working to come in,” Mr Geckle said.

In The Background

By Monday evening those who have at times crossed their fingers for luck and kept hard at work since early in 2001 to rejuvenate Fairfield Hills prevailed.

Authority member Amy Dent said, “I think it’s great. We’re finally moving forward.”

First Selectman Borst’s signature secures years of planning to revitalize the Fairfield Hills campus, and turn it from a vacated state-run hospital to a center for municipal offices, shops, restaurants, and as of Monday night, a home for expanded Danbury Hospital services.

Redevelopment plans have been a priority for Fairfield Hills Authority members, who have devoted hours of their time each week to planning the project since 2001. Following Monday’s meeting, Mr Geckle said, “I hope to start the wheels back in motion.”

Most of all, State Representative Julia Wasserman has grappled with Fairfield Hills issue since 1991, she said. “It’s been 18 years, to be exact,” she said. Thinking back to the state-level struggles over the acres of land and buildings in the center of town, she said, “I know more about that campus than anyone else — it’s my baby. I have slept with it and lived with it for 18 years.”

Also leaning forward as Mr Borst’s signed paperwork Monday, she said, “I’m happy about it. I think we did the right thing.” Mrs Wasserman is also pleased that a hospital, and possibly Kevin’s Community Center will soon open for business from Fairfield Hills.

Also in progress are renovations to Bridgeport Hall to relocate municipal and education board offices. Unfortunately, the project is on hold until the state determines the amount of reimbursement the Board of Education space will receive. Until that time, renovation work cannot go out to bid.