South Windsor Council Grants CT Studios Another Extension

Once again, Connecticut Studios’ developers requested an extension of time on the reverter clause contained in a land agreement between the developer and the town that required the project to be started - this time by the end of business on April 3.

Once again, the Town Council ultimately acceded to the request - in a 6-3 vote - giving Connecticut Studios LLC until 11:59 p.m. on April 25 to pull building permits on the proposed $55 million project.

At issue is a 20-acre parcel of land that the town provided the developer three years ago for $1. A clause in the agreement originally stated that the parcel would revert back to the town if construction hadn’t started by October 26, 2012.

In a possible effort to satisfy the reverter clause, Connecticut Studios began construction on a 600-square-foot security building in October 2012, though only a foundation was laid and no apparent efforts have been made to continue work on the shack.

The extension of time approved by the council Monday night was the third given to Connecticut Studios developers since October, and it was clear Monday evening that patience has run thin with at least several councilors.

Town Councilor Kevin McCann invoked both April Fool’s Day (which is was on Monday) and Groundhog Day (the classic Bill Murray movie in which the lead character suffers through the same day over and over again) to voice his displeasure with the lack of progress.

“What are we going to do on April 26 when they don’t come through?” McCann asked rhetorically. “What do you think this extension is going to do?”

McCann requested that the resolution on which the council voted contain some provisions to ensure movement on behalf of the developers, such as having the town not enter into an agreement with the developers concerning public infrastructure.

“We need to put some teeth into it,” McCann said. “If not, why are we wasting our time again?”

Nothing was added to the resolution outside of a time extension.

Councilors Cindy Beaulieu and Keith Yagaloff also voted against the measure.
Yagaloff said that while he was against the time extension, he was still very much in support of the project.

Connecticut Studios principal Anthony DelVicario told McCann during a somewhat tense exchange that he is merely waiting on signatures from lenders and government agencies - formalities - for financing for the whole project and approvals for a fuel cell to help fund the public infrastructure.

Specifically, DelVicario said that First Niagra Bank required seven signatures to sign off on such a large, multi-million dollar deal, and that four had already been obtained. DelVicario said that the signatures could be obtained as soon as this week.

In an earlier portion of the meeting, Town Councilor Cary Prague said that he has faith that the project would come to fruition.

Mayor Tom Delnicki said that he wanted to be careful not to “torpedo” the project if it was so close to coming together.

The council added Connecticut Studios to the agenda after McCann and Yagaloff both said they were concerned that a special meeting scheduled for April 3 may have been too late to give a time extension.