BRIDGEPORT — Eight years ago the owner of the former Warnaco clothing factory in the South End received a zoning approval to implement a grand overhaul of the prominent brick eyesore into hundreds of apartments with ground floor retail space.
And then nothing happened.
Now the city, which late last year condemned the long-abandoned site, is threatening to demolish it unless the New York City-based CT Century Gardens LLC, which purchased the property in 2004, makes substantial improvements.
"They (in the past) did do some remediation work on it. Now it's to the point where it's time to do something or the building has to go," Russell Liskov, an attorney for the city, said Monday.
CT Century Gardens, run by Albert Gad, has been fighting the condemnation in state Superior Court since January and also earlier this month placed the factory on the market for $6.5 million.
An online real estate advertisement, posted May 4 on LoopNet under the address 300 Atlantic Street — the actual address is 330 Myrtle Ave., promotes the site as development-ready based on the 2015 zoning authorization which remains active.
"The approvals consist of a 346 unit, 7-story building with 13,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor," reads the listing. "The second level is designed to include 13,000 plus square feet of amenity space including an entertainment room/lounge, meeting room and fitness center. The site also has an option to accommodate a 'restaurant row' concept boasting a wide variety of dining options with ample parking."
While CT Century Gardens wants $6.5 million, the building has been appraised by the city's tax assessor at $1.9 million.
"Someone's not going to be able to come in there and buy that and rehab it at their price. It wouldn't make economic sense," Bridgeport Economic Development Director Thomas Gill said in an interview late last week.
Meanwhile a remote court hearing on the condemnation and pending demolition was scheduled for Tuesday. CT Century Gardens had in its January court filing initially claimed Bridgeport did not follow the proper process for condemning Warnaco and for notifying the owner.
Liskov on Monday said the city acted appropriately.
"It's vacant and it poses a health hazard to the citizens," he said.
Hearst Connecticut Media late last week forwarded questions to an assistant of Gad's about why CT Century Gardens never built the apartment complex and about the condemnation. On Monday the assistant responded that she was "not authorized to comment."
Liskov admitted it will likely cost the city "millions" of dollars to take the building, which dates back to 1891, down, and that, ideally, the parties would instead reach a resolution improving the property. But he also indicated he is skeptical that will happen given CT Century Gardens' history.
Liskov said he has been told that CT Century Gardens has "a partner" to rehabilitate the structure and is awaiting further details, but added the owner "has told us that story before and nothing has panned out."
"If there is truly a (partner) we'd be more than happy to work with them," Liskov added. “(But) if they don’t have a plan to us shortly there will be no choice but to demolish the building.”
Gill last week accused the entity of sitting for years on the parcel hoping to one day turn a profit.
"They basically 'land-banked' this," said Gill, who has run the economic development office since mid-2016. "It’s a game of just holding on to the property and saying, 'Somebody will come along and pay us our ridiculous price.' We can’t allow that property to stay like that.”
"Unfortunately," Gill continued, "They don't take care of it and secure it the way they should."
In April 2014, a then-spokesman for Gad, Michael Villani, blamed the national recession from 2007 to 2009 for CT Century Gardens' being unable to have redeveloped the site sooner.
"We tried over and over and over to bring in partners, but the timing was just not right with the financial market. In the last few months, we decided we'd just do it ourselves," Villani said at the time.
Villani could not be reached for comment.
As for the 2015 zoning approval for the apartment complex, that is still in effect.
Initially CT Century Gardens was required to annually seek an extension of the authorization annually. But, according to the zoning department, because of a recent change in state law that applies to certain land-use approvals granted between July 1, 2011 and March 10, 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck Connecticut, those permits were automatically extended for 14 years.
According to the Bridgeport tax collector's online database, which covers 2016 through present, CT Century Gardens has mostly kept up with the tax bill for the property, most recently paying $65,639. But a lien was placed on the site for 2020's tax payment. No additional information was immediately available.
City Councilman Tyler Mack has represented the South End since his election in late 2021. He said Monday he was not aware of either the condemnation of Warnaco nor that it was being marketed for a nearly 300-unit apartment building.
Mack noted how Bridgeport is preparing to break ground on a new Bassick High School in the same neighborhood, and that is a significant change from 2015 that needs to be taken into consideration should Warnaco be redeveloped.
"With Bassick being there, now we have more school buses in that area, more students walking," Mack said.
Former resident Doug Williams, who used to live in the South End but has since moved out of state, in 2015 submitted testimony to the zoning office in support of CT Century Gardens' plans.
Reached Monday and told that the factory could be torn down, Williams said that would be "a waste."
"The character of those old brick buildings, there's something there to be useful," Williams said.
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