Norwich back to square one on hospital property
Claire Bessette
The Day
City council rejects both developers' bids
Norwich — The city will start over in its effort to find commercial development for the former Norwich Hospital property, with the City Council's vote late Monday to reject both bids received last summer for the 61 acres in Norwich.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop has scheduled a forum for June 30 to discuss how the city could market the property for development a second time. Lathrop has been discussing the issue with officials at the state Office of Policy and Management and state Department of Public Works for written confirmation that the city can market the property as three distinct development parcels.
Lathrop hopes to have written confirmation by the date of the forum.
The council voted 6-1 to reject the two bids, with Alderman Robert Zarnetske dissenting.
Lathrop argued that the two bids received last year from Northland Investment Corp. and Bourbon Street Norwich LLC were centered too much on residential development. While the city still encourages residential development elsewhere, Lathrop said he hopes to bring more commercial development to the hospital property.
John Hollis, a principal in Bourbon Street Norwich LLC, addressed the council at the start of the meeting and answered questions of the aldermen during discussion of the resolution to reject both offers.
Hollis said he agreed with Lathrop that the city should strive for top quality commercial development on the Norwich Hospital property. Hollis said his firm's proposal meets that goal. He vowed that his company would remain in the process and would come to the June 30 forum. He said he would go along with the city's plan to market three separate parcels — noting that Bourbon Street Norwich LLC's original plan called for developing the property in three segments.
“We are here to stay,” Hollis said, noting that the firm has financing in place for the project.
He said he even welcomed the chance to compete with other developers in a new round of proposals.
Zarnetske was angry at Lathrop for saying they should reject the two proposals while the mayor worked on “a different strategy” for marketing the property. But Zarnetske supported the idea of having a forum to discuss the proposals and other options.
Alderman Francois “Pete” Desaulniers too supported the idea of having an open forum.
But Alderman Christopher Coutu tried to table the issue of rejecting the two submissions to have a forum on just the two proposals. His motion failed 5-2, with only Coutu and Zarnetske voting in favor.
Alderman Mark Bettencourt said starting the process anew would give the city more flexibility in reviewing the Norwich Hospital property once again.
Hollis said it was a misunderstanding from the start that Bourbon Street Norwich focused on work-force housing. He accepted responsibility for the error, saying his partner used that term to describe apartment units above the proposed retail spaces meant for project employees.
Alderman William Nash said he personally liked the Bourbon Street Norwich proposal and apologized for the misunderstanding. He said starting over would help overcome that problem.
Bourbon Street Norwich LLC proposed a $267.9 million mixed-use development that would recreate many elements of New Orleans' famous entertainment district. The proposal included 125,000 square feet of mixed-use retail and entertainment space, as well as a residential component with work-force housing.
The proposal included an indoor water park with surfing pools that would provide year-round surfing and the capability to host national or regional surfing competitions; hotels; a movie studio; and an exotic car club with a helipad.
Hollis offered a “picture” of his firm's proposal at the start of the council meeting and said he hoped to have the chance to meet with city officials to present the plan in detail.
Prior to the meeting, Charles Coursey, a spokesman for Northland, said his firm had not heard from Norwich officials “for quite some time” since the proposals were submitted and figured the city was awaiting a decision in Preston. Coursey said Northland officials learned about the city's plan to reject the bids through newspaper accounts.
Coursey said Northland remains “very interested” in the Norwich portion of the hospital property and would be patient to see how the new process progresses.
Northland's $250 million proposal for Norwich, called “Norwich Green,” matched the upscale theme the company proposed at the Preston part of the former hospital property, but included work-force housing on the Norwich side.
The plan called for 700 units of seasonal and permanent residences, most of which, as in the firm's Preston proposal, would be marketed to the 55-and-older community.
Preston officials have turned the decision on what to do with its 419-acre part of the former hospital property over to the voters, giving them a choice between Northland and Preston Gateway Partners, LLC — both of which also call for extensive residential development — or turning control of the property back to the state, rejecting both bids. Preston will hold a town Meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Preston Veterans' Memorial School and will hold a referendum July 1.
Norwich — The city will start over in its effort to find commercial development for the former Norwich Hospital property, with the City Council's vote late Monday to reject both bids received last summer for the 61 acres in Norwich.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop has scheduled a forum for June 30 to discuss how the city could market the property for development a second time. Lathrop has been discussing the issue with officials at the state Office of Policy and Management and state Department of Public Works for written confirmation that the city can market the property as three distinct development parcels.
Lathrop hopes to have written confirmation by the date of the forum.
The council voted 6-1 to reject the two bids, with Alderman Robert Zarnetske dissenting.
Lathrop argued that the two bids received last year from Northland Investment Corp. and Bourbon Street Norwich LLC were centered too much on residential development. While the city still encourages residential development elsewhere, Lathrop said he hopes to bring more commercial development to the hospital property.
John Hollis, a principal in Bourbon Street Norwich LLC, addressed the council at the start of the meeting and answered questions of the aldermen during discussion of the resolution to reject both offers.
Hollis said he agreed with Lathrop that the city should strive for top quality commercial development on the Norwich Hospital property. Hollis said his firm's proposal meets that goal. He vowed that his company would remain in the process and would come to the June 30 forum. He said he would go along with the city's plan to market three separate parcels — noting that Bourbon Street Norwich LLC's original plan called for developing the property in three segments.
“We are here to stay,” Hollis said, noting that the firm has financing in place for the project.
He said he even welcomed the chance to compete with other developers in a new round of proposals.
Zarnetske was angry at Lathrop for saying they should reject the two proposals while the mayor worked on “a different strategy” for marketing the property. But Zarnetske supported the idea of having a forum to discuss the proposals and other options.
Alderman Francois “Pete” Desaulniers too supported the idea of having an open forum.
But Alderman Christopher Coutu tried to table the issue of rejecting the two submissions to have a forum on just the two proposals. His motion failed 5-2, with only Coutu and Zarnetske voting in favor.
Alderman Mark Bettencourt said starting the process anew would give the city more flexibility in reviewing the Norwich Hospital property once again.
Hollis said it was a misunderstanding from the start that Bourbon Street Norwich focused on work-force housing. He accepted responsibility for the error, saying his partner used that term to describe apartment units above the proposed retail spaces meant for project employees.
Alderman William Nash said he personally liked the Bourbon Street Norwich proposal and apologized for the misunderstanding. He said starting over would help overcome that problem.
Bourbon Street Norwich LLC proposed a $267.9 million mixed-use development that would recreate many elements of New Orleans' famous entertainment district. The proposal included 125,000 square feet of mixed-use retail and entertainment space, as well as a residential component with work-force housing.
The proposal included an indoor water park with surfing pools that would provide year-round surfing and the capability to host national or regional surfing competitions; hotels; a movie studio; and an exotic car club with a helipad.
Hollis offered a “picture” of his firm's proposal at the start of the council meeting and said he hoped to have the chance to meet with city officials to present the plan in detail.
Prior to the meeting, Charles Coursey, a spokesman for Northland, said his firm had not heard from Norwich officials “for quite some time” since the proposals were submitted and figured the city was awaiting a decision in Preston. Coursey said Northland officials learned about the city's plan to reject the bids through newspaper accounts.
Coursey said Northland remains “very interested” in the Norwich portion of the hospital property and would be patient to see how the new process progresses.
Northland's $250 million proposal for Norwich, called “Norwich Green,” matched the upscale theme the company proposed at the Preston part of the former hospital property, but included work-force housing on the Norwich side.
The plan called for 700 units of seasonal and permanent residences, most of which, as in the firm's Preston proposal, would be marketed to the 55-and-older community.
Preston officials have turned the decision on what to do with its 419-acre part of the former hospital property over to the voters, giving them a choice between Northland and Preston Gateway Partners, LLC — both of which also call for extensive residential development — or turning control of the property back to the state, rejecting both bids. Preston will hold a town Meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Preston Veterans' Memorial School and will hold a referendum July 1.
This article was
written by Claire Bessette
and published by The Day
on Tuesday, June 17