The City of Meriden has commenced hazardous building materials abatement at the former Meriden Wallingford hospital site located at 1 King Place in downtown Meriden.
The City acquired 1 King Place as an owner of last resort through tax foreclosure in January 2014. The site contains a 325,000 square foot former hospital structure and a two-story parking garage that spans two city blocks on 5.64 acres. The City has committed to completing remediation and hazardous materials abatement to advance the adaptive reuse of the building and parking garage in cooperation with a private developer.
In 2016, the City selected One King LLC through a competitive Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process as the preferred site developer. The City signed a Master Developer Agreement with One King LLC in June 2017. The City and developer’s goals for the site include repurposing the building into a mixed-use, private development that includes housing and commercial development. The developer has committed, following an 18-month cleanup schedule, to invest over $30 million into the facility to convert the property to residential, medical office, and related retail space. The proposed development plan complies with the City’s TOD zoning ordinance, POCD, and overall goals for the redevelopment of downtown.
Since acquiring 1 King Place, the City retained Fuss & O’Neill to complete a Phase II/Limited Phase III Environmental Site Assessment, a Hazardous Building Material Inspection report, and a structural evaluation of the building and parking structure. The reports found that the building is structurally sound and suitable for redevelopment.
Following the completion of the site investigations, the City retained Fuss & O’Neill to complete bid specifications for a hazardous building materials abatement plan as a precursor to future site development. In April 2018, the City selected American Environmental Inc. (AEI) of Holyoke, MA as its abatement contractor after conducting a competitive bid process. AEI submitted a low bid of $3.443 million for hazardous building materials abatement. Funds for the abatement project were provided by a Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Municipal Brownfields Assessment and interim cleanup grant ($401,000), a 2018 DECD Municipal Brownfields cleanup grant ($2 million), and a 2018 DECD Municipal Brownfields cleanup loan ($2 million). The abatement project will be completed in 170 working days.
The City was also awarded a $200,000 FY 2018/2019 grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency for soil cleanup at the site. Soil cleanup using USEPA funds will commence in early 2019.
During the site abatement, access to the site is strictly prohibited. Site access requires City approval and the use of Personal Protective Equipment at all times. For more information, please contact the City of Meriden Department of Economic Development at (203) 630-4151.