In August of 2023, Haddam, a small town just a few miles down Route 9 from the City of Middletown, announced that it had received a $4.55 million grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to turn its shuttered Haddam Elementary School into affordable senior housing, a community center, and town offices.
Haddam received the largest grant of the eight communities included in the third round of the Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant , a program started in 2021 by the DECD to “improve livability, vibrancy, convenience, and equity,” of communities in Connecticut, with a goal of sending half the funds to distressed municipalities and creating 3,000 jobs. The grant, however, was a matching grant, meaning the town itself would have to somehow fund the rest of the estimated $9 million project, or partner with a developer.
The DECD encouraged public-private partnerships for Challenge grant applications, and Haddam had teamed up with Elm Tree Communities, run by former Mohegan Sun CEO turned developer Jeff Hartman, who had already completed a 50-unit development in town, called Blueway Commons. However, in a write up for Haddam-Killingworth News , First Selectman Bob McGarry said the partnership was noncommittal, and the town would put out a request for proposals for developers to submit bids…