The city plans to plug a budget hole with one-time revenues by selling $8 million in land and land rights to Yale and Amistad Academy — including downtown’s Begonia Island (pictured).
Begonia Island, a flowered traffic median between Broadway and Elm Street, is part of a package of properties the city proposes to sell or lease in order to balance its budget for the current fiscal year.
Details of the proposed land deals, totaling $8.3 million, were revealed Monday night in three submissions to the Board of Aldermen. All three are pending approval from the board.
Here’s the breakdown of the proposed one-time revenue stream:
• $4.51 million to sell the Dwight School at 130 Edgewood Ave. to Amistad Academy;
• $3.35 million to sell a parking lot at 156 Washington Ave. to Yale;
• $400,000 to lease out Market and Begonia Islands, two traffic medians between Broadway and Elm Street, also to Yale.
The last two purchases would expand a swath of Yale-owned land that extends from Albertus Magnus College on Prospect Street to the Hill’s medical district.
“We are selling pieces of property to the university that are surplus,” said Mayor John DeStefano Monday, “and, frankly, that will help the city with its financial straits.”
The mayor said he plans to use the money for the budget for the current fiscal year that ends June 30 — not next year’s budget, which is already facing a $6 million hole, judging by the Democratic legislature’s latest proposal.
Islands Surrendered
The smallest but most prominent of the sales concerns a slice of land between Broadway and Elm Street.
Begonia Island, a small, triangular traffic median nearest York Street, is known for its bright flowers. Market Island is a larger median space between Elm Street and Broadway. Yale currently maintains a portion of Market Island, 11,430 square feet of park space marked by a wavy bench and a paved area that attracts skateboarders. That portion (at left in photo above), as well as Begonia Island, is what Yale intends to lease.
The city has jurisdiction over the islands because they lie in dedicated “right of way.” That means you won’t find the islands in the assessor’s database, because they’re literally part of the street.
Yale has an interest in the islands because they sit right near Yale’s Broadway shopping district, an area close to the heart of the college campus.
Yale was instrumental in making Market Island the way it is today, said Chrissy Bonanno, the city’s deputy chief of economic development. The park space on the island was renovated in 1996 through a combination of federal, state and local dollars. Yale paid the local match to secure the grant.
The city proposes to lease the land to Yale for 99 years. In year one, Yale would pay $400,000. For the next 98 years, Yale would pay $1 per year. In taking formal control of the space, the responsibility for fixing broken curbs will shift from the city to Yale, Bonanno said.
The land will be taxable, she added. She wasn’t sure how much tax revenue would be generated, because the lots aren’t in the city assessor’s database yet.
A Piece Of The Hill
The second piece of city land Yale would take over is a 1.92-acre parking lot in the Hill neighborhood at 156 Washington Ave. Yale currently leases the lot from the city for $7,000 per month, said Bonanno. Yale maintains and secures the property.
The city wasn’t planning on selling that lot until Yale came forward in February and suggested the idea, Bonanno said. The city agreed to sell it, with one important condition: That the city would maintain an easement on the property so that it can extend Amistad Street through the lot. Extending Amistad Street is part of a larger plan to knit two neighborhoods together over the Oak Street Connector, aka Route 34, details of which were revealed Monday: Click here to read more about that.
The city hired the Estrada Association to do an appraisal. Taking into account the easement, the appraisers came up with a value of $3,350,000, said Bonanno. Yale audited the appraisal and agreed to buy the land for that price, she said.
The parking lot would not be taxable if Yale uses it for student parking; it would be eligible for state PILOT funding in that case.
The proposal comes as Yale and Yale-New Haven Hospital continue to expand their domain in the Hill neighborhood. Earlier this year, Yale paid $34 million to buy the former Lee High School, which will continue to house the Yale School of Nursing.
Orders authorizing the two Yale land deals were rushed onto Monday’s aldermanic agenda under a fast-tracked “suspension” agenda. In a letter explaining the haste, economic development chief Kelly Murphy wrote that the two sales are part of an Action Plan the city laid out in December to balance the current year’s budget. The proposals need to move forward, she argued, so that the money comes through this fiscal year.
The December report estimated that budget hole to be $3 million, mostly due to recession-era losses in revenues such as investment income and off-track betting. Sale of city assets were expected to comprise $1.5 million. No explanation was available Monday night as to whether the revenue from the land sales would exceed the current year’s deficit, and what might be done with any extra funds.
DeStefano is also facing a $6 million hole in his proposed budget for next fiscal year, FY09-10. Of that, about $3 million comes from PILOT funds he budgeted for in excess of the governor’s budget, that also didn’t appear in the Democratic legislature’s budget proposal. The Democrats’ proposal would also slash city funding by $3 million due to cuts to a statewide pool of Pequot Funds.
Depending on when the legislature ends up voting, DeStefano said he’d submit a budget amendment, likely around September, making adjustments to fill the budget hole.
Dwight Price: $4.5M
Unlike the two proposed Yale land deals, the city’s plan to sell the Timothy Dwight School has already been made public.
For the first time Monday, documents revealed the sale price.
The city proposes to sell the school for $4,510,000 to Amistad Academy, which is planning a $31.5 million renovation project to host a K‑8 school. Amistad Academy has secured funding for the project in part through a state grant, according to a document detailing the sale.
Estrada appraised the 4.24-acre property at $4.1 million. The city negotiated with Amistad to sell it for $4,510,000.
The property would not be taxable since it would be used by a school.
“The new school will act as a stabilizing factor in one of the most civically engaged communities in the city,” reads the proposal, from Murphy, the economic development chief.
The three bills, which authorize the mayor to enter into the land deals, will be assigned to committee for a public hearing then proceed for a final vote by the full board.