Middletown Council Unsure About Tax Abatement Plan For Apartment Building

MIDDLETOWN The common council has postponed action on an incentive plan that city officials want to offer a developer with plans to build a new downtown residential building beside the MiddleOak office tower.

A Massachusetts developer, Hajjar Management Co., is proposing an upscale 89-unit apartment building at the corner of College and Broad streets adjacent to the MiddleOak office tower. Hajjar owns the property.

The $20 million project would include 3,400 square feet of retail space on the first floor with studios, one bedroom and two bedroom apartments on the second, third and fourth floors.

Council members said they needed more time and more information about the deal, which calls for a seven-year tax freeze and a cap on building permits at $142,600. The council voted Monday night 9-2 to postpone a decision until the Feb. 2 council meeting.

Democratic Majority Leader Thomas Serra said he hopes the city can reopen negotiations to get a deal that is more beneficial to taxpayers. He said there are also remaining questions about the 1987 deal the city offered when Middlesex Mutual built the office tower at Broad and Court streets, and about the impact the new building might have on the school district.

"I support this in the context of what's happening," Serra said. "However it's about fairness to the citizens of Middletown. My intention [in postponing a vote] is to have input and to have answers to all the questions my colleagues asked."

Planning Director Michiel Wackers said the city in 1987 made an $11 million investment into the construction of the office tower, but there wasn't much of a return.

The new offer to Hajjar is an investment of just $18,000, and the city stands to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenue after the project is complete, he said.

"This is revenue that will ultimately reduce the tax burden and we need to keep that in mind," Wackers told the council. "We've struck a deal that's in the interest of taxpayers, as well as in the interest of the developer, to bring new development into Middletown."

Council Republican David Bauer cautioned against rushing an approval for the project, and said more scrutiny is needed to make sure the plan is beneficial to taxpayers.

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Middletown Council Unsure About Tax Abatement Plan For Apartment Building