A City Council public hearing will take place Tuesday, September 5 at 7 p.m. in Geraldine Johnson School auditorium, 475 Lexington Avenue, regarding a Land Development Agreement between the city and Exact Capital’s proposed restoration of two Downtown theaters as well as construction on adjacent properties featuring more than 800 units of housing. The legislative body is utilizing Johnson School while the council chambers Downtown undergoes renovations.
CT Post reporter Brian Lockhart has more:
Zoning Commission members have authorized the sale of two historic downtown theaters, a nearby hotel and over a dozen other, mostly vacant properties to a New York-based developer.
Monday night’s vote was another step forward in Mayor Joe Ganim’s aggressive efforts to revitalize a northern section of Main Street that has lagged behind other downtown redevelopment. The sale next heads to the City Council, which is in the middle of reviewing a project contract with prospective buyer Exact Capital.
… Though the sale terms still have to be negotiated with Exact, the tax assessor’s office appraised the 17 properties at $5.9 million. Nearly $3 million of that amount is for the shuttered Majestic and Poli Palace theaters and the Savoy Hotel.
Full story here.
Ok, so we are going to have a public hearing about a $410 million development in our downtown,but not one detail about financing, tax breaks,plans to improve the infrastructure of the area etc,etc???… so if the public asks any questions, the response will be “we don’t have the answers??…comical, just going through the motions..
Thank you Anne Pappas Philips.
First of all your job is to vote the way you feel not the way Mel Riley tells you too.
Second of all, you have every right to question that which is presented to you and to question every part of the deal. What happens if they build an 18 story skeleton of a building and rum out of money? Who will built next to that?
And finally, thank you for showing that without prior planning and forethought the best made intentions are most likely doomed.
I am sure you will win a seat on the council with this type of independence and thought.
Look at the rendering of the building. It looks like someone said “Oh, we can add some sort of addition on to the top and no one would ever think that it was part of a money grab to squeeze out a couple of extra bucks.”
Thank you Ann Pappas Philips!
Ann Pappas Phillips, good job. Be very cautious about, Coleman and Perez also said that when Exact is ready to build, the developer will need to come before zoning officials. “You guys will most likely have a second bite at this apple,” Perez said.
Most Likely, right.
That’s when Mel Riley will say that they voted for it the first time so they can not vote against now.
Here comes the 10 lbs of sugar in a 5 lb bag!
It would be enlightening to learn if Ganim and the rubber-stampers on the City Council offered a tax abatement. Previous administrations passed them out like oarty favors and now everyone that owns real estate or an automobile in Bridgeport is paying for the generosity.
What good is a public hearing when the Zoning Commission has already “approved” the “so-called-sale” of properties to Exact Capitol. This public hearing is a joke and a facade. Ganim,Testa and Company can fool some people some of the time but the amount of people that they are fooling is getting reduced day by day.