Thomas MacMillan File Photo
The former Bigelow Boiler factory is one step closer to being redeveloped, thanks to a recent $300,000 state grant.
The city will use the planning grant to complete the environmental assessment and structural analysis of the historic property, which was a humming factory on River Street from 1869 until 1976. The Board of Alders approved acceptance of $2.8 million from the state at the end of 2012 to preserve and revitalize River Street’s other abandoned manufacturing properties.
The initial planning and assessment steps for the Bigelow property will take about two years, said Helen Rosenberg, the city economic development officer heading the project. Legal costs would probably run the city another $50 – 60,000, and miscellaneous planning and clean-up costs even more.
By the end of two years, the city will know how much more money to request to complete the project. The Bigelow building is one of eight city or town projects across the state to benefit from Governor Dannel Malloy’s recent $2.2 million grant.
Rosenberg said they are working on “marketing” the building to prospective users. “We want to make sure we find the best use for the property,” she said. “We can use the money for that as well.”
Paul Bass File Photo
The factory also figures prominently in True Confections, a novel by local author Katharine Weber (pictured at left with Rosenberg in above photo and set in New Haven).