New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday that the town will need to find another prospective owner for a ca.-1859 building that long has formed part of the Town Hall campus.
Municipal officials “have had to terminate our negotiations with the developer who had responded to the original RFP [request for proposals]” for Vine Cottage, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan.
“We plan to go out with a new RFP very soon,” he said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall.
Located on Main Street across from the fire station, Vine Cottage is a turreted, yellow building that the town has owned since 1997. It currently is occupied by the New Canaan Health Department.
In early 2017, a proposal to renovate the building for $550,000 was rejected by the Town Council. Some in town suggested that the true cost of maintaining it might be as low as $220,000. In the summer of 2018, Moynihan said that the building would likely be sold, and though then-Selectman Kit Devereaux pushed back on the move, the selectmen voted 2-1 in June 2019 to approve the RFP.
A field of four interested parties was narrowed down to two contenders, Robert Cuda and Arnold Karp, Moynihan has said. Cuda died in December 2019, and the negotiations with Karp—owner of the former Red Cross building next door—slowed amid the pandemic.
It’s unclear why negotiations ultimately broke down. Moynihan did not expound during the meeting.
Selectman Kathleen Corbet asked whether the town would re-draft the RFP and Moynihan said no, that there is “no reason to make any changes” though he would take another look at the document.
Selectman Nick Williams asked where the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure stands on Vine Cottage. Moynihan said the appointed body only deals with specific projects.
Corbet asked whether either the selectmen or committee had reviewed “whether there is any use for Vine Cottage for the town.”
Moynihan said, “We clearly have space in this building to have the Health Department return to this building.” He referred to Town Hall.
Asked by Corbet whether that move is planned, Moynihan said, “Yes.”
He continued, “Also, it’s been nice during COVID to have the use of that building and to have people spread out and have extra part-time people working in that department.”
Given a re-started RFP process, it likely wouldn’t be until the end of the year that the Health Department would move out, he said.
Moynihan said the selectmen can take up the discussion again at their regular meeting on Aug. 17.