Bristol To Hear Suggestions For O'Connell, Bingham Buildings

BRISTOL A developer wants to buy two shuttered elementary schools and convert them to apartments for senior citizens, but Bristol Hospital is asking for one of the properties as the site for a medical office building.

Residents will get to give their opinions at a hearing Wednesday on what Bristol should do with the O'Connell and Bingham buildings. The city council ultimately will decide whether to go with one of the proposals or look for different alternatives.

Bristol Hospital is asking the city to give it the 98-year-old Bingham School on Route 6. Hospital officials propose razing the three-story building and building up to 60,000 square feet of medical office space in phases. The hospital estimates that the total construction cost would be $21 million to $27 million.

The hospital, which is on the verge of being acquired by the private Tenet Healthcare Corp., is asking the city to provide the property without charge. It has said it would want up to 18 months to determine whether to go ahead with construction of the new complex, which would provide medical office space on the edge of downtown and within a short drive of Plymouth.

Bristol Hospital's proposal doesn't include the O'Connell School in the West End.

The Litchfield-based Park Lane Group is asking to buy both schools for the combined price of $219,000. The company said it would seek state and federal historic register status for them, and plans to renovate both into housing for seniors. Park Lane said that it could create about 70 apartments in total, and that it would be agreeable to providing the gyms in one or both buildings as community facilities.

Park Lane has been campaigning to get supporters of its plan to Wednesday's hearing. Ted Lazarus, head of the company, said in a statement Tuesday that preservation of the historic schools is important.

"Both buildings are very important elements of Bristol's architectural legacy," he said. "Why demolish a building which can be restored and again made useful in a new role as senior housing?"

The city wants to dispose of both properties to reduce maintenance costs and the risk of deterioration. Both were closed as schools within the past three years, along with Memorial Boulevard Middle School and the Jennings School; the city has not decided what to do with either of those other properties.

A study for the city by AMS Consulting concluded that Bingham's value is theoretically more than $900,000, with about $526,000 of that attributed to the land. But the actual market value would be far less, the company reported.

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Bristol To Hear Suggestions For O'Connell, Bingham Buildings