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November 29, 2022

Lawsuit hobbles new Parkade contract

Journal Inquirer The Broad Street side of the Manchester Parkade is a vacant lot.
By Joseph Villanova, Journal Inquirer

A lawsuit against the town of Manchester filed by a previous developer that was fired this year is holding back an agreement with a newly selected developer of the roughly 23-acre Broad Street Parkade property.

The town signed an agreement with developer Manchester Parkade I LLC in 2019, but cut ties in January, saying the agreement had lapsed over a failure to secure in a timely fashion adequate funding for the long-delayed project.

In February, the Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to seek new bids for the Parkade development, ultimately voting 10-1 in July to select Texas-based Anthony Properties after reviewing six proposals.

One such proposal came from First Hartford Realty Corporation, founded by Journal Inquirer Publisher Neil Ellis, who remains First Hartford’s chairman of the board and the largest stakeholder.

The Board of Directors in August voted 6-3 to authorize negotiations with Anthony Properties, but no legally binding agreement was signed.

Town Attorney Timothy P. O’Neil said this week that the town has discussed the project with Anthony Properties since August, but the lawsuit is preventing further action.

“Although there have been conversations and discussions, neither party will be able to sign a new agreement until this lawsuit is resolved,” O’Neil said.

Manchester Parkade I LLC filed the lawsuit against the town in May, alleging that the contract between the two was breached. In August, their lawyers filed a motion for a temporary injunction against the town, effectively hamstringing the project.

The injunction, if granted by the court, would prohibit the town from entering any agreements for redevelopment of the Parkade site, or modifying, selling, or transferring ownership of the property.

O’Neil said little public action has occurred with the lawsuit so far, but the next court date is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2023.

The state Judicial Department website lists the January 2023 court date as a remote hearing. A trial management conference and a trial date are scheduled for early 2024.

Development of the Parkade property has faced legal issues in the past, with the town asking a judge to decide a contested property easement between neighboring parcels.

The town filed a “quiet title action” in 2014, after signing an agreement for redevelopment of the Parkade, in order to clarify a 1966 cross-easement placed on a 3.8-acre dogleg strip of a former shared driveway and parking area for the nearby cinema and Stop & Shop plaza.

The neighboring property owners and the town had conflicting understandings of the meaning of the deed restrictions placed on development of adjacent parcels.

A Superior Court judge ultimately ruled in 2016 that the property must be developed while maintaining a parking plan defined in 1982, but neighboring property owners could not contest development if the plan was followed appropriately.

The town purchased the Parkade property, which at one time contained a blighted and mostly vacant strip mall, in 2009 for $1.85 million. An $8 million bond approved by referendum for Broad Street revitalization funded the purchase.

In 2012, the town signed an agreement with Canada-based Live Work Learn Play to develop the property. The contract ultimately expired in 2018 before development began from a number of delays, including the prolonged court fight over the easement.

Director of Planning and Economic Development Gary Anderson said the last two Redevelopment Agency meetings, scheduled for Oct. 20 and Nov. 17, were canceled for a lack of business, but did not comment on whether it was related to the lack of action on the Parkade site.

At the Redevelopment Agency’s last meeting on Sept. 15, members voted to transfer $62,000 between accounts to cover predevelopment costs for Broad Street redevelopment, including costs related to negotiations with a preferred developer.

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