Posted on October 12, 2017
By Allan Appel, New Haven Independent
As some better-known companies flee Connecticut for Massachusetts, a dredging and maritime construction company is sailing in the opposite direction, planning to set anchor in riverine Fair Haven.
The company is Patriot Marine, of Winthrop, Mass., which, pending a final city approval, plans to move to 90 River St.
Neighbors were pleased to hear that at their most recent Fair Haven management team meeting.
City Livable City Initiative staffer Lori Lopez called the marine-based business a choice that “makes a ton of sense.”
Reached by email after the meeting, city development staffer Helen Rosenberg (who couldn’t make the meeting) confirmed that Patriot Marine has signed a purchase and sales agreement with Maverick Partners, current owner of the long, grey shuttered building that stretches to the river at 90 River.
In 2005 the property had been sold to nearby Suraci Metal Finishing, which renovated it and employed over 100 people before going bankrupt.
Two years ago Maverick bought the bank lien and has signed a purchase and sales agreement with Patriot for the property.
Patriot, however, can’t close on the the 50-foot wide waterfront strip until after the Board of Alders approves the sale. The matter is currently before the board.
According to a summary of the proposal that Rosenberg said will be presented in November, the company would maintain equipment, weld cranes and other equipment, and store items as needed on the property. There would also be an office to handle accounting, payroll, and indoor tasks.
As part of the purchase agreement, Patriot would install a new steel bulkhead at a waterfront area where for years, until this spring, “Shantytown,” a colorful “fishing village,” flourished.
Lopez reported that the “village” is gone. The man who had kept it together was no longer fulfilling that role, she said. (Click here to read about that.) People had been living there illegally. “It was time to make it go away,” Lopez said.
Lopez indicated that the gathering of colorful fisherman, amid a camp-like collection of chairs, coolers, and flags, had gone away long before Patriot Marine had expressed an interest in the property and there was no connection between the two developments.
Patriot’s proposal also includes a promise to replace the entire roof of the 57,000 square foot building at 90 River St. as well as to renovate the facade and the inside to make about 10,000 square feet available for rental by tenants.
Importantly, under the deal Patriot would grant the city a permanent easement over the property for a pedestrian walkway, at such a time that the city receives funding to build it.
During the dredging season the company employs about 50 people and in the off-season 15, according to Rosenberg’s summary.
Fair Haven management team Co-Chair David Steinhardt, himself the owner of a small area manufacturing business, called the news very good. “The waterfront is slowly being developed,” he said.
“River Street has been the bane of my existence for 16 years,” said Lopez. “This is great news.”
Source: New Haven Independent
