The Town of Preston is about to lose control of the former Norwich Hospital site. Both the state and Preston went about marketing the property in a back asswards way. The site needs to be cleaned up. The state should clean it up and then market it, if market it they must. They’d be likely to attract serious people, instead of scam artists like Joe Gentile.
A better idea, of which I was reminded today by an email from a frequent commenter on this site, is to turn the property to an educational use. It’s a beautiful piece of property, and would make a first rate campus for an educational institution. He suggests that we develop a first rate technical school, in the MIT mold. Why not? We already have two high quality small colleges here. We have the Pfizer research facilities. A technical/research institution would fit right in and could be just the catalyst we need to diversify the local economy. Of course this is whistling in the wind. Preston had just enough sense to avoid being ensnared by Joe Gentile, but not enough to avoid dealing with him in the first place. The state lacks imagination, and isn’t likely to improve in the next several years.
My guess is that the property continues to decay. The only question is whether it, or the hole in downtown Mystic, will be developed first.
Parenthetically, I’d love to be allowed to wander around with my camera on the grounds over there. The area has become ghoulishly picturesque.
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