Today’s Mystic River Press (which is not on-line, so no links), has an article about a local residential designer named Michael Sullo, who has come up with a design to turn what he aptly describes as a “big hole” in downtown Mystic into a public space.
For those not from the area, a little background. Almost an entire block of downtown Mystic burnt to the ground in March of 2000. Downtown Mystic is a major tourist attraction. John Rowland, then governor, rushed down to pledge that he would have the space back to normal within (if memory serves) two years. He was never heard from again.
The site is a strange one. There is almost no land. The old buildings were on a concrete dock that extended over the Mystic River. It’s a difficult spot to build on. There are building codes now. Complicating things further, the owners had no insurance. I was on the Town Council at the time, and the owner basically came to us and asked us to bail him out, using the implied threat that he would do nothing if we didn’t do so. We called their bluff. I suggested we take the place using eminent domain, but several Republicans on the Council almost had heart attacks, so that idea didn’t go anywhere. I can’t remember if I proposed using the place as a public space on the record to the council, but I’ve been saying it to anyone who would listen (and not many do) for years.
After we turned their bailout request down, the owners went in search of someone stupid enough to dramatically overpay for what is essentially building rights over a river. They found someone (actually a group of someones), who gave them a million dollars. In order to recoup their investment, the new owners needed to build very expensive condominiums on top of a retail bottom floor. Problem: absolutely no parking, and no ability to create any. The town kicked in a few spaces, to which the hypothetical rich condominium dwellers would have to walk, but I don’t think it was nearly enough. It’s now been nine years, and the space is still empty, not only an eyesore but a drag on all the other merchants in the downtown area.
Mr. Sullo’s idea looks like a good realization of what I’ve always felt we should do with the space. He envisions a roofed pavilion, in which “concerts and performances like Shakespeare” could take place. Other uses suggest themselves, such as art shows, political events, etc. If something like this were built, the events held there would attract people to Mystic, where they would no doubt spend money in the local establishments. If we do nothing I believe I shall be a very old man before anything occupies that space. If the space were dedicated to this sort of public use there could be no question about the propriety of the use of eminent domain, and I would suggest that the fair market value of that property, in this market, and for a rational buyer, is far less than the million dollars paid by the current owner.
Sidebar: One of the odd things about the above saga is the fact that the council didn’t bail out the former owners. I think the reason we didn’t do it was because they were local guys, and didn’t have insurance, which everyone found offensive. If they had been the Marriot corporation, we probably would have been more amenable. Witness the council’s recent willingness to give a tax break to a hotel developer as an incentive to build a building that had already been built.
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