By Andreas Yilma Citizen’s News
NAUGATUCK — The town is looking to acquire the Bank of America building at 275 Church St., redevelop the iconic W.J. Megin property at 1247 New Haven Road and possibly develop an indoor sports complex, Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said.
Hess said the Bank of America building is for sale and the borough is interested in acquiring the property. He noted there’s excess parking at the site and many businesses on that side of the street need help with parking but can’t afford to do it themselves.
“There are synergies with that property because it’s right in between Ion Bank and the old post office, which are also beautiful buildings,” Hess said. “Think about the synergies between those buildings working together in a project with joint parking. There’s just a lot of possibilities.”
Another possibility for economic growth is the old Megin property, which has buildings totaling 34,820 square feet on about 6 acres. The total appraised value is $885,710, according to the assessor’s property card.
“We have a developer and we just agreed to give him some incentives,” Hess said. “He’s going to come in, fix up that (main) building, retain it and he’s also going to fix up the buildings in the rear.”
The push for a local indoor sports complex stalled right before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that venture now shows signs of new life. Borough officials are working with a company that is interested in an indoor sports complex combined with some outdoor athletic fields, Hess said.
“It’s a little challenging, but we’re going to find a way to make it happen,” he said. “It would really be great, not just for Naugatuck, but for the region. The (indoor sports complex) is going to have baby-sitting, restaurants, bars. It’s going to be a destination for sporting teams in the region.”
Officials previously held an indoor sports complex workshop in January 2020 and proposed to build a complex on a roughly 13-acre property on New Haven Road between Warren Avenue and Osborn Road. A preliminary site plan showed an 80,000-square-foot facility with 223 parking spaces.
Hess continues to have a positive outlook for growth in the borough.
“We’re going to keep improving Naugatuck,” he said.
