Engineers Milone & MacBroom recently produced three detailed concept plans for the intermodal center and 15-acre site. City officials have also briefed ConnDOT officials and received solid support for this initiative. A final conceptual design for the site is expected within the next two months. The public is invited to a meeting at 5:30pm, September 26 at the Lincoln Middle School to review the plans and offer comment. The City received a $2 million grant from the CT Department of Economic and Community Development and over $300,000 from the US Environmental Protection Agency to demolish on-site structures and “clean- up” the HUB property. Contact Peggy Brennan, Economic Development Director, for further information.

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The surface of a park is slowly rolling out across the rocky plain where the Hub once stood.

All day Tuesday, trucks could be seen bringing in loads of topsoil, and a bulldozer was evening the piles. “We’re going to cover everything with topsoil,” said Miljan Radulovic, who was driving the bulldozer. Radulovic works for J.R. Contracting and Environmental Consulting, which was responsible for tearing down the former Meriden Hub shopping center and is converting the property into a park.

The city had been waiting on the results of an environmental test of the site. The test results are in and show it is free of contamination, said Public Works Director Bob Bass. “It’s OK to use,” he said. “ So they’re hauling and placing topsoil.”

The work is expected to take about two weeks. The next step, Bass said, will be to attach a large rake to the back of a tractor and take out all the rocks and three limbs sometimes present in topsoil. After this, the areas for grass and wildflowers will be marked out and planted.

When the park opens largely depends on how long the grass takes to grow, he said. Once it does, the contractor is obligated to mow the grass once, then take down the surrounding fence and remove any remaining debris. Bass estimates the park may open by the end of September or the beginning of October. “I think it’ll be a nice site when it’s finished,” he said. The 15-acre park will be only a temporary fixture downtown, however. The city is considering a number of possible uses for the site.

City Manager Lawrence J. Kendzior is expected to make a public presentation of three different development options sometime in September or October. All the options contain mostly the same elements, but differ in their arrangement. Each plan has a flood-control element, a transportation center, a parking garage, some park sections, and varying commercial and residential development.

The Hub, formally called the Meriden Mall, was built in the 1960s, but failed to thrive, and flooding was a problem. The city demolished the building in May. 

“The (environmental) report is very positive news for the city,” said Mayor Mark D. Benigni. “It will be exciting to see the fence come down and grass growing on the site.”