Bills, Blight Bedevil Clock Shop Project

Has the clock stopped on a long-delayed effort to convert a derelict former Hamilton Street factory into 130 affordable apartments?

The property’s Oregon-based developer says the project is still moving forward. Three years of unpaid property taxes, a recent default in a tax foreclosure court case, and a spate of city anti-blight and building safety citations suggest a different story.

Those are the latest developments with the former New Haven Clock Company complex at 133 Hamilton St.

The 150,000 square-foot former clock factory complex is owned by Taom Heritage New Haven LLC, a holding company controlled by the Portland, Oregon-based development firm Reed Community Partners, which bought the decaying post-industrial property in 2018 for $1.4 million.

On Tuesday, a state court clerk entered a default for failure to appear against the Hamilton Street property owner in a tax foreclosure court case called City of New Haven v. Taom Heritage New Haven LLC.

The city first filed that lawsuit on March 8 because the Oregon-based developers allegedly haven’t paid property taxes for 133 Hamilton St. since 2019. 

The tax foreclosure lawsuit claims that the clock factory owners owe the city a total of $137,766 in back real estate taxes. That includes $26,033.49 for part of the taxes owed for the Grand List of 2018 (due on July 1, 2019 and Jan. 1, 2020) plus interest and lien fees, $53,206.26 for all of the taxes owed for the Grand List of 2019 plus interest and lien fees, and $58,526.88 for all of the taxes owed for Grand List of 2020 plus interest and lien fees.

The clerk entered the default against the property owners after they failed to file a legal appearance in the months-old court case. That means that, unless the clock factory developers file an appearance and defend themselves in court, the city can seek a default judgment from the judge — and then move towards foreclosing on the property. 

That marks a fall from grace for a ​“Clock Shop Lofts” project greeted with enthusiasm — and a host of local and state government support — just four years ago.

Those various government approvals from 2018 included a seven-year local tax abatement, $400,000 in city funds and $800,000 in city-managed federal funds and a $4 million state loan for environmental remediation at the radium-contaminated property, and site plan approval — all to support Reed’s planned conversion of the 1840’s-built former industrial complex into 130 new affordable apartments, a third of which must be reserved for artists. 

In the intervening years, after an initial flurry of cleanup work — and after a prolonged eviction-court battle with the complex’s then-last remaining tenant, a strip club called Scores — the site has gone quiet, and has continued its decline into post-industrial decay.

"Conditions Pose Serious Danger"

The Oregon-based developers have also been landing in deeper trouble with the city — and not just with the tax office — for letting the building fall into further disrepair. 

In October 2020, January 2021, July 2021, and January 2022, the city’s Building Department sent ​“unsafe structure” notices to the property owners regarding a collapsed rear wall, leaking oil drums, and a corner apron of fallen bricks.

Then, on May 2, the city’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) sent an anti-blight and property maintenance ordinance civil citation to the property owners.

That civil citation states that LCI inspected the property on May 2, and found that:

• “[E]xisting conditions pose serious or immediate danger to the community.”

• ​“Property is continuously attracting illegal dumping. Also, the property is continuously open to trespass creating a safety concern for the community.”

• ​“Property needs immediate landscape maintenance in all areas of the property. Overgrowth and grass need to be cut and cleaned.”

• ​“Graffiti needs to be removed in all areas of the property. Windows on the property need to be repaired or replaced. The exterior of the building structure needs immediate repairs in all areas of the property.”

• ​“There are multiple piles of debris on the property that need to be removed. There is unauthorized and possible hazardous storage on the property that needs to be removed.”

The LCI order gives the property owner 10 days to correct all of those conditions, or else the city will start fining the owner up to $100 per day.

Asked for comment for the latest with the Clock Shop Lofts project from the city’s perspective, city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli told the Independent by email, ​“The City entered into a development agreement with Taom several years ago and they are a valued development partner; however, we simply cannot move forward until there is a satisfactory resolution to blight and public safety matters as well as taxes rightfully owed to the City, which in turn goes toward services for our community.”

Developer: Project Still Alive

What does the developer have to say about all this mess?

Reed Community Partners Managing Partner Scott Reed told the Independent that his company has not abandoned this project, and will bring this factory-to-apartments conversion to fruition.

“Reed Community Partners remains committed to seeing the former New Haven Clock Factory site brought back to life as affordable housing,” he said.

He didn’t actually tell that to the Independent directly. He did not respond to an email request for comment by the publication time of this article.

Rather, that direct quote from Reed was passed along to the Independent via email by Josh Blevins. Blevins told the Independent that he spoke with Reed, and that Reed OK’d having the above quotation attributed to him.

Blevins previously worked as Reed Community Partners’ director of historic redevelopment and government affairs. He also previously worked as the company’s managing director of development.

Although he passed along Reed’s comment affirming the company’s commitment to the Clock Shop Lofts project, Blevins declined to comment on his own for this story. 

He also said that he no longer works directly for Reed Community Partners, but instead works with the company as an outside consultant. 

Asked if he is presently working on the Clock Shop Lofts redevelopment project, Blevins said no.

The Independent asked Blevins on Wednesday afternoon about why Reed Community Partners’ website was no longer active, but instead showed an error message. Later that evening, Reed Community Partners’ site had been reactivated.

Neither Blevins nor Reed responded to requests for comments about the $137,000-plus in unpaid local taxes, and about the recent default in the tax foreclosure court case.

Elsewhere in the country, as the clock shop factory has languished, Reed Community Partners has been busy over the past few years securing government approvals and financial support in San Jose, Calif., to help subsidize the development of a new 91-unit affordable housing complex in San Jose, called the Algarve Apartments.

The only person affiliated with the Clock Shop Lofts redevelopment project to provide more than a single-sentence comment to the Independent for this story was Bill Kraus.

Kraus is a local historical preservationist and 133 Hamilton St. history aficionado who has spent more than a decade trying to find some way to breathe new life into the long-abandoned former factory complex. 

He teamed up with Reed Community Partners, and helped boost their redevelopment project and tell the building’s rich local history of underground arts as the new owners secured government approval after approval in 2018.

“I am still working very hard to push this forward with all of the different parties involved,” Kraus told the Independent. ​“I’m optimistic that it’s going to move forward. It’s fundamentally a good project.”

He said that ​“about 85 percent of the pre-construction [environmental] remediation is complete and went well.”

Asked about the back taxes owed for the project, Kraus — who does not work for Reed Community Partners, but instead has his own Connecticut-based historic preservation and development business — said, ​“While it’s not my decision to make, it’s my expectation the real estate taxes will be paid and the building issues will be addressed so the project can proceed.”