The Stony Creek post office building, a site with an extraordinary view of Long Island Sound and the Thimble Islands, is up for sale for $1.3 million, and the town is putting together a plan to buy it.
The announcement came as a group of 30 Creekers gathered at the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library Monday night to devise a plan to save the nearly 30-year-old post office whose lease runs out at the end of August. It is owned by Thomas Colville, a well-known private American art dealer who has offices in New Haven and New York.
Soon after the meeting began, Robert Babcock, the president of the Branford Education Foundation and one of the leaders of the group, informed the audience that he had just received a call from First Selectman Unk DaRos. “He told me that the town had a plan. Unk has put a stake in the ground,” Babcock said to a round of applause.
David Baker, an RTM member from the Creek, said the plan “minimizes tax” implications for residents, but he would not elaborate.
DaRos later told the Eagle he had sent a formal letter to the owner’s agent, Joe Piscitelli, one of the shoreline’s best known realtors, formally declaring the town’s interest. DaRos told him he needs until June 16 at 4 p.m. to come up with a “thoughtful and reasonable proposal.” DaRos said that he would seek a long lease with postal authorities, and he hoped to get it.
The small community post office, which Creekers feel passionate about, went on the block seven months ago for an original selling price of $1.6 million, but few knew about it, even though it was listed in real estate reports. It wasn’t until Piscitelli, of Coldwell Banker, put up a small “for sale” sign late last month that the community learned that it was on the block. The Stony Creek post office, like the small community post office in Short Beach, rents space.
In an interview, Piscitelli said many people in the area did not know the post office rented space. “A lot of people didn’t believe it or couldn’t believe it was sale,” he said.
“My client and I want the town to buy it,” he said. “I tried to get the town to buy the Indian Point Club in the ’90s. And that didn’t work. And I have been working for the last six months to get something done on the post office. . And now [outside] proposals are coming in,” he said a day before he received the town’s news.
The post office sits on about a one-quarter of an acre of land and has spaces for parking. Colville said in an interview that he purchased the post office building in 1993 when its prior owner went bankrupt. He spent $175,000 to rescue it. The property is assessed at about $250,000. Its current asking price, which Colville said he was willing to negotiate, is high because it has glorious views. It is zoned “business restricted,” but runs on a septic system.
Colville, who has submitted a lease proposal to postal authorities for a new one-year lease, said the old lease is up at the end of August. He said there was every indication that postal officials would be amenable to a longer lease.
“I bought it in 1993 to see the post office continue there. It has a modest rent. But the rent doesn’t pay for the upkeep,” he said. “There is a lot of maintenance. The lease requires me to fix toilets, fix the roofs. I put a new roof on recently. There have been water problems. There is a lot of micro-managing that I just don’t want to do any longer. That is why it is on the market. We just the lowered the price to $1.3 million. It is not on the market as a rental to the post office but as a waterfront property, which is what it is.” He said Piscitelli recommended the selling price.Colville told the Eagle that he had heard nothing from the town since October, when he spoke to Paul Forman, a longtime Stony Creek resident who was community minded and a problem solver. Forman had learned of the sale. He said Forman suggested they wait until after the November election to raise the issue. But Forman died in November and Coville said he has heard nothing since.That was the case as of 1:30 p.m. Monday when we interviewed him. Meanwhile, Piscitelli had reached out to DaRos. The two talked sometime on Monday. By late Monday, DaRos sent a letter to Piscitelli declaring the town’s interest in purchasing the property. It was that letter that Babcock reported on. The post office plan will be raised in executive session at Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting.
In an interview, DaRos hinted that the perennial summer problem of finding restrooms for tourists visiting Stony Creek might be solved if the town owns the property. Right now four rented port-o-potties are lined up across the street from the post office at 202 Thimble Island Rd.They have a super water view. Luckily they are not assessed. ###