Marcia Chambers Photo
A Branford businessman, who has transformed large tracts of dirty land in the past, has purchased the once-contaminated Atlantic Wire company site, about 8.3 acres on the Branford River, for about $850,000.
Kevin O’Neill, the president of the Cherry Hill Glass Company, said in an interview that he will use part of the site to expand his glass business, which is located only a few (long) blocks away. What happens to the rest of the Atlantic Wire site is, at the moment, “up in the air,“ he said.
“There will be future development over there. We are hammering out some of that stuff right now,” he told the Eagle. He said he is not yet ready to go to the Planning and Zoning Commission, a step he would have to take for any mixed use of the land. Atlantic Wire is located in an industrial zone known as IG‑1, one of the town’s oldest zones.
While O’Neill was not specific, others familiar with his thoughts said he might consider retail, office and restaurant use.
Atlantic Wire, a fixture for decades in the town, closed its doors after it went bankrupt. It was later charged with federal crimes and state violations in its systemic pollution of the Branford River.
First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos said today he is pleased about the purchase of the property.
When Atlantic Wire went bankrupt, laid off its employees and closed its doors, DaRos said he hoped the centrally located site not far from the Town Green and the railroad station might become an artist colony. He envisioned lofts, boutiques and stores all along a river walk.
He still hopes some of that might happen. “I am hoping for some mixed use,” he said in an interview.
DaRos noted that the site is well over 160,000 square feet. “I don’t know how much manufacturing he needs to do, but I would certainly think there is a possibility for other uses. Hopefully there will be mixed use in there because you know it is in the center of town. He is the owner. We will certainly work with him in whatever way we can.”
DaRos, along with Republican Third Selectman John Opie, would like to see the realignment of Meadow Street, where Atlantic Wire is located. After a torturous intersection at South Montowese Street, Meadow Street becomes Pine Orchard Road.
O’Neill said he spoke to DaRos about the intersection issue about a year ago, just before he made his initial offer. Asked if he would consider a new plan for the unruly intersection, he said: “Not if it involved taking part of the building down.”
DaRos said a new intersection would not involve taking down a part of the building. “There a couple of other ways to do it,” he said.
“I would think that straightening out that intersection would also help whatever he puts in there,” he added. “It is a very difficult place to get out of right now. It might be an opportunity to help him and his business and it would certainly help the traveling public. It is a very difficult place to get in and out of, especially if you are driving a truck.”
“We have already reached out through his real estate agent that we would like to talk to him and certainly help.”
Atlantic Wire is about a half mile from Cherry Hill Glass, where the abandoned Nutmeg Steel Castings buildings once stood.
O’Neill said he purchased the Nutmeg Steel buildings in a tax foreclosure. “There were two buildings, the North Harbor one and Elm Street one. They were a lot worse than Atlantic Wire.” He said the Nutmeg buildings had been abandoned for 10, 15 years when he purchased them. “They were in real rough shape,” he added.
By comparison, Atlantic Wire “doesn’t seem so bad.” The site has now had extensive clean-up, the result of a deal the state made with the previous owners of the wire mill.
At the time former Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called Atlantic Wire one of the worst polluters in the state. He said an illegal discharge in September 2007 killed hundreds of blue crabs in the Branford Harbor. Blumenthal filed civil charges against the company; the U.S. Attorney filed criminal charges. In December, 2008, the company pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to the criminal charges — violating the federal Clean Water Act and submitting false statements regarding its pollution measures.
Scott Thayer, the current moderator of the Representative Town Meeting, served as executive vice president of Atlantic Wire in 2007 and worked at the company for 30 years. He was not charged in any state or federal filing.
O’Neill said his crews are now at the Atlantic Wire property, “getting weeds pulled off the front of it. It won’t take look. We will straighten it up.”
He said he plans to move some of his business to the new site “in the near future.”
The 8.3 acre site was initially put up for sale for $2.8 million by H. Pearce commercial realtors. A number of developers were interested in it. Over the past two years, the price hovered in and around the $1 million range, others familiar with the sale said.
In the end it worked out. “It took a couple of like-minded people to put a deal together,” O’Neill said, referring to his negotiations with the partners of the Branford Atlantic Realty Co. Branford Atlantic has owned the property for decades and a manufacturing business appealed to them.
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