The RFQs are due to the city by 4 p.m. Aug. 3, said Jacob Schulte, the city’s economic development program director. Those proposals will be reviewed by an evaluation committee and Acting City Manager Paul Lolli will negotiate with the selected developers.
Eventually, the proposals will be voted on by City Council, Schulte said.
Rick Pearce, president of the Chamber serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton, called RFQs “a step in the right direction” to reach out to investors/developers and hear their ideas on what options they have for those properties.
Middletown has a great deal to offer with its existing infrastructure and ideal location off Interstate 75, especially coupled with the city’s two-year repaving program and improvements to Central Avenue, according to Pearce.
He hopes the RFQ’s reach the “right people with proper investment and creative ideas” to repurpose those buildings.
“It could be the impetus to bring more redevelopment to Middletown,” he said.
Jeff Payne, executive director of Middletown Downtown Inc., agreed. He said if those vacant buildings, situated in some of the city’s “very key locations,” are redeveloped it could help “spur and increase” development opportunities.
“They could create a synergy downtown,” he said.
History has shown, he said, that once development starts, and it’s successful, other businesses will follow. He said housing will lead to more retail businesses and bars/restaurants downtown.
Of all the city-owned properties, Vice Mayor Monica Nenni believes the former First National Bank has the best potential to be developed first because it’s in the “best condition” of the vacant structures.
Regardless of which building is first, Nenni said any development is “good for the city.”
The goal of downtown is to create a “live, work and play” environment so residential, retail and commercial properties must be available, said Nenni, who co-owns a wine bar downtown and a restaurant just outside the downtown corridor.
Schulte, a former intern who was hired last month, said the city doesn’t plan to demolish any of the properties. Instead, Middletown wants to keep the properties intact and convert them into mixed use buildings.
Another Middletown property, Goetz Tower, developed by Steve Coon, was awarded $711,950 in tax credits last month.
Coon said the former bank and office tower will be converted into 20 market-rate apartments on the second through seventh floors with retail or office space on the first floor.
He expects the project to be complete by the fall of 2023. Coon said the project is expected to cost $6 million.
REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS
Downtown properties: 1027 Manchester Ave, formerly the Manchester Inn; 101 N. Main St., formerly the Snider Building; 2 N. Main St., formerly First National Bank building; 39 N. Broad St., known as the Swallen’s lot; and 436-437 N. Broad St., known collectively as the Smith Park lots.
Central Avenue area: 2402 Central Ave., former Lincoln School site; 2701 Central Ave., former Roosevelt School site.
To find out more: https://secure.cityofmiddletown.org/bidview
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