Easement Dilemma Cleared Up For Parkade Property

MANCHESTER, CT — Municipal officials on Tuesday announced agreements with three Broad Street property owners that terminated "restrictive deed language" that has held up development initiatives on the town-owned Broad Street Parkade site.

on three easements that has stalled development on the town-owned
Broad Street Parkade site.

Terminating the three easement agreements in their entirety will allow the town to "focus on attracting mixed-use development to the Parkade" as called for in the Broad Street Redevelopment Plan.

A 2016 court decision that maintained decades-old parking agreements made redevelopment "infeasible," town officials said.

The Manchester Board of Directors and The Manchester Redevelopment Agency subsequently initiated discussions with the abutting property owners, L & J Manchester LLC (The LH Charney Group), owner of 346 Middle Turnpike West; Mizner Realty LLC, the owner of 286 Broad Street; and D-3 LLC, the owner of 308 Broad Street.

The discussions led to three separate memorandums of understanding, which provide the legal avenue
for the Town to "move redevelopment forward," officials said.

The old easement language confined development of the town-owned Parkade property to the footprints of the now-demolished buildings.

In signing the agreements the town has agreed to purchase a 3.86-acre abutting parcel (296 Broad Street);
take possession of a portion of Green Manor Blvd.; to prohibit a competing Supermarket or Big Box
retail store to be constructed on its property; and to address certain property tax liabilities.

The total cost to the town, including property acquisition, is $475,000. It will be paid for through Broad Street Redevelopment bond funds, officials said.

“This is great news. It’s been a long journey to get this point with many bumps along the way," Manchester mayor Jay Moran said. "Getting the restrictions removed is a huge to step to getting the property developed, which will be beneficial not only for the town but also for the surrounding businesses.”

RDA Chairman Aaron Wlochowski added, “I want to thank the Town Staff, current and former members
of the Redevelopment Agency and Board of Directors, and past RDA leadership for getting us to this
point. It has been a long journey but we stuck with it and are now at the point where we in a position to
move development forward. “

The Manchester Redevelopment Plan, approved in 2009 and revised in 2012, calls for a dense, mixed-use
development on Broad Street, centered on the Broad Street Parkade site.

Legal issues have stalled the redevelopment of the Parkade itself, but the Town has implemented nearly all of the plan’s other recommended actions like reconstructing Broad Street, developing flexible form-based zoning regulations, purchasing and clearing blighted structures, conducting market research, remediating environmental contamination on the former Nichols properties and most recently, creating a physical link between the district and Center Springs Park.

The Town’s development partner, LiveWorkLearnPlay
(LWLP) has focused on a medical/education campus concept with complimentary housing and retail uses.

The acquisition of 296 Broad Street and a portion of Green Manor Boulevard brings the municipal-owned portion of the Parkade property to 23 acres.

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