The developer behind a $700 million downtown redevelopment project in Naugatuck is behind on his taxes.
According to The Connecticut Post, Alexius and Nancy Conroy owe $125,457 in back taxes to the town of Fairfield, where Conroy is a resident and a business owner. The newspaper put Conroy as the third-hightest deliquent taxpayer on its top 10 list, which was published this week.
The unpaid tax bills go back to 2010, the newspaper said. Conroy is the owner of Conroy Development Co.
Conroy signed a five-year agreement with the borough in 2007 for a massive downtown private-public renovation project called Renaissance Place. Local officials have said the project stalled because of the economic downturn in 2008.
While there’s been a lot of reported behind-the-scenes work in place, no real development has been executed, besides a rehabilitation of the Parcel C plot of land in the downtown.
The clean-up is a prerequisite for an eventual medical center, built by St. Mary's Hospital, and a parking garage, which would be partially financed by the borough and public grants.
Conroy has said St. Mary’s still has plans in place to build a medical facility there, however that is incumbent on the parking garage. The borough is still seeking funding for the construction of the garage.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's Hospital CEO Chad Wable has told Naugatuck Patch the hospital is willing to work with Naugatuck on the proposed medical center, however there's no firm commitment on the structure at the moment.
- RD, editor
Well, sadly, the referendum passed and since then Mr. Conroy doesn't even have as much as an agreement with GDC to buy that parcel of land which was supposedly paramount to the project, let alone any money to actually buy it. Since then the only financial investments going into this project are the monies being spent by the town and grants from the state for studies and site remediation for Parcel C. Dime one from Conroy and his financial pack have yet to be spent, yet the taxpayers are supposed to be jumping up and down to build a parking ramp garage so St, Mary's can MAYBE build a medical facility on Parcel C at some point in the future. How this medical facility is going to fit in with the new hospital merger between St. Mary's and Waterbury Hospitals that is going to happen in Waterbury is anyone's guess, but I would not be surprised to find out that this will not happen because if centrally located in Waterbury it would be a 10 minute ride from Parcel C and while it would be nice to have something better than the walk-in clinic we now have, just how much is it really going to cost the taxpayers?
The deal as it was sold to the citizens of this town should be scrapped as none of it has come to fruition. Any new plans for development that involve borough funds should be voted on at a new referendum, with potential developers required to put up funds for not only the costs associated with the referendum but also for performance bonds which if deadlines and measurable progress is not made will be forfeited to the town. It's time to rethink this whole thing and let the taxpayers weigh in on it again.
While it's fine to point a finger and blame it all on the economy, the fact is the whole project always sounded like nothing more than a pipe dream to many who opposed it from the beginning. Also, if Conroy had the backers he claimed to have at the outset why was nothing at all done on his part? it took several years from the time the referendum was passed until the economy really hit bottom (if it has) yet he and his unnamed financial brigade did nary a thing other than talk and promise that progress was being made. Now, with the financial problems his own company is having evidenced by his failure to be able to pay local real estate taxes it seems a reasonable and logical time to bid this man adieu as soon as hit contract date expires.
I would like to see the town government focus on reaching out to businesses to rent these empty places. Never mind building anything new. Just get new businesses in here to pay taxes.