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Sports complex

susan danseyar, journal inquirer, manchester, conn.
·4 min read

Jan. 31—ENFIELD — The Town Council has the go-ahead from the Planning and Zoning Commission to negotiate a lease of a portion of Brainerd Park with a private developer who is proposing to build a sports complex in town.

SPORTS COMPLEX

PROPOSAL: Developer Andrew Borgia of New York-based Fast Track Realty is proposing to build a sports complex at the now vacant MassMutual office park just off Interstate 91, which he says will bring up to 500 jobs to the area.

WHAT'S NEXT: If the proposal goes forward, the developer will come before the Town Council, Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, and Planning and Zoning Commission, where there will be public hearings.

Andrew Borgia of New York-based Fast Track Realty is planning to build the All Sports Village at the vacant MassMutual office park just off Interstate 91, which he says will bring up to 500 jobs to the area.

Part of Borgia's financing requirements for the proposal is leasing 11 fields at Brainerd Park. If the town leases any portion of public land, the PZC must approve it.

The PZC on Thursday voted 6-1, with Chairman Lewis Fiore casting the dissenting vote and PZC alternate member Nicles Lefakis abstaining, to issue an affirmative report for the Town Council to negotiate rental of fields at the 32.6-acre park.

This is the first step in a long process, Town Manager Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said before the vote. If the proposed development goes forward, she said, there would be public hearings by the Town Council, the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, and the PZC for a site plan review.

During a Town Council meeting Jan. 9, Borgia said his complex would have indoor and outdoor areas for competition in several sports, a hotel, a family entertainment center, restaurants, bars, meeting rooms, sports-related retail, fitness and medical centers, an Enfield Sports Hall of Fame, and upgrades to Brainerd Park.

Zoppo-Sassu said the Town Council discussed how Borgia's proposal had far-reaching implications for Enfield and has come before officials while the landscape for office parks is changing dramatically.

The MassMutual office park has been vacant since Dec. 31, she said. MassMutual was one of the town's top 10 taxpayers for the last decade.

"As MassMutual downsized and Empower took over a piece of their lease, we also had the overlay of COVID," Zoppo-Sassu said. "The pandemic changed the way all of us do business."

Unfortunately, she said, there is no market for office space of that size and magnitude on upper Route 5.

Census data shows that 29% of Americans were working from home as of October.

On top of that, Lego Group announced last week that it will be leaving Enfield for Boston in phases beginning in 2025.

"We are seeing these patterns emerging and know it will be extremely difficult to market the office park," she said.

That doesn't mean the town will take any offer that comes along, Zoppo-Sassu said. Officials have been talking for the past eight weeks about opportunities for what the office park could be and she is happy to say there's potential for discussion with All Sports Village.

The developer's request for leasing fields at Brainerd Park also would be beneficial for the town, she said.

Zoppo-Sassu recently looked through historical archives that include Agnes Brainerd's will. The lifelong Enfield resident deeded the family's property to the town in 1958, which became Enfield's first public park.

Zoppo-Sassu said she was interested to learn what Brainerd's purpose was in giving the land to the town and what she wanted to see for its use.

The will states that "it was the express wish that the above described premises be used for the purposes of a park or playground to be known as the Agnes M. Brainerd Park, if at all possible, and if such use be not possible, then to be used for other proper municipal purpose."

Zoppo-Sassu said she wonders what Brainerd would think about the current state of the park, areas of which have environmental concerns and have fallen into disrepair.

"She would want to scold many of us who she gave this acreage to and we were supposed to be that benevolent caretaker of her gift," Zoppo-Sassu said. "It's an erosion of public trust when you actually are given such a gift as this and you cannot maintain it."

She referenced several parts of the town's draft version of the Plan for Conservation Development that spoke directly to maintaining such land.

Should All Sports Village eventually go ahead in town, Zoppo-Sassu said, the Town Council believes its use of fields at Brainerd Park would be in accordance of Agnes Brainerd's wishes.

For more coverage of Somers and Enfield, follow Susan Danseyar on Twitter: @susandanseyar, Facebook: Susan Danseyar, reporter.