Middletown receives 5 proposals to renovate downtown, school properties
Sep. 9—The city of Middletown is continuing its process toward revitalizing downtown, an important step in its future, said City Manager Paul Lolli.
Lolli said city leaders are interviewing five companies this week that submitted proposals to renovate several city owned downtown properties, including the former Manchester Inn (1027 Manchester Ave.), former Snider Building (101 N. Main St.), former First Financial Bank (2 N. Main St.), two lots collectively known as the Smith Park lots (436-437 N. Broad St.) and the Swallen's lot (39 N. Broad St.).
The city also owns the former Lincoln School (2402 Central Ave.) and the former Roosevelt School site (2701 Central Ave.)
Nathan Cahall, assistant city manager, said representatives from one firm were interviewed Wednesday morning and the other four were scheduled this week. After the interviews are complete, city leaders will meet internally, then make formal recommendations to City Council, possibly by the end of the year, he said.
Cahall said the city received two Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) for the former Roosevelt and Lincoln school sites on Central Avenue and three proposals for the downtown properties. One firm made a proposal for all downtown properties and the other two were interested in certain, but not all properties.
Typically, Cahall said, cities receive RFQs that are "a little lacking," but all five submitted to Middletown are "strong contenders."
The former school sites offer the city an opportunity to improve its available housing stock by bringing "new and unique product" to the market, Cahall said.
"Fill some holes we have," he said.
As for the downtown properties, like other city leaders and council members have said, Cahall said it's important to convert the vacant buildings into commercial, retail and residential spaces.
"We have an opportunity to spur the redevelopment of our town," he said. "We are well positioned to pivot, to reimagine ourselves in a variety of ways."
Lolli said it's time for the city to start "executing our game plan" when it comes to redeveloping the downtown and the Towne Mall Galleria property.
Within five years, Lolli said, residents and visitors "may see a different Middletown. That's my hope."
Rick Pearce, president of the Chamber serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton, has called RFQs "a step in the right direction" to reach out to investors/developers and hear their ideas on what options they have for those properties.
Middletown has a great deal to offer with its existing infrastructure and ideal location off Interstate 75, especially coupled with the city's two-year repaving program and improvements to Central Avenue, according to Pearce.
He hopes the RFQ's reach the "right people with proper investment and creative ideas" to repurpose those buildings.
"It could be the impetus to bring more redevelopment to Middletown," he said.
Jeff Payne, executive director of Middletown Downtown Inc., agreed. He said if those vacant buildings, situated in some of the city's "very key locations," are redeveloped it could help "spur and increase" development opportunities.
"They could create a synergy downtown," he said.
