South Windsor Town Council Updated on CT Studios Project

The South Windsor Town Council discussed an update on the controversial Connecticut Studios project.

Town Manager Matthew Galligan said that the Connecticut Studios developer was still plugging away at getting approvals from various sources to move forward with the $55 million project, which includes sound stages, a mill for the building of sets, a hotel and retail space.

Among the issues discussed Monday evening was the developer’s proposed $12 million estimate for the project’s infrastructure.

Galligan, who called that projection “ridiculous,” said that there were some things, like hotel parking, that clearly did not belong in the infrastructure that the town would be responsible for.

The town manager put a $9 to $10 million figure on the infrastructure, which would include improvements to Routes 5 and 30, as well as hookups to water, sewer and electrical utilities and the installation of some public parking.

Galligan said that the infrastructure would not be constructed through a 63-20 corporation, but with the creation of a 501(c)(3) entity.

The infrastructure would be funded through tax-exempt bonds floated by the 501(c)(3), which would then lease the infrastructure back to the town. The town would pay for the lease through the revenue generated by a fuel-cell microgrid.

The developer is still working on an agreement for a long-term power-purchase agreement.

The 501(c)(3) would enable the town to maintain total control of the corporation’s board, as opposed to a 63-20 corporation, where the developer would have “seats at the table,” Galligan said.

At the end of the lease agreement, the infrastructure would revert back to the town.

On that front, CT Studios’ proposal for a fuel cell microgrid was one of 27 projects deemed technically feasible by the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The developer is now invited to submit a more detailed response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) which will be issued in the coming weeks.

But Councilor Kevin McCann noted that the deadline for CT Studios was April 3 to pull the building permits on the project.

If that doesn’t happen, the town and the developer could find themselves in a legal showdown over a 20-acre parcel of land that the town provided the developer for $1 three years ago.

The land could revert back to the town, pursuant to the parties’ agreement.

But the developer, in a possible effort to satisfy the reverter clause, started construction on a 600-square-foot security building last Fall.

There are questions, however, as to whether starting construction on the small building meets the legal requirements of the reverter clause.

In addition, at the meeting Monday, two residents - Don Gonsalves and Michael Sullivan - said that there shouldn't be any further discussions with CT Studios until a $1.5 million mortgage had been cleared on the 20-acre parcel the town provided the developer.

Gonsalves said that until the developer paid off the mortgage, the project is "dead."