Norwich buys Marina Towers at bargain price: How does this fit into waterfront plan

Norwich is working hard to revamp its waterfront, and has just taken the next step.

The Norwich City Council approved the purchase of the blighted Marina Towers office building for $350,000 from owner JCM CT Acquisitions LLC during Monday's meeting.

The city’s purchase of Marina Towers will help develop the Marina at American Wharf, create more access to the marina, and allow the city to clean up the blight, Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said.

Norwich will seek brownfield remediation grants and other funds to make the site more attractive to a developer. Nystrom compared it to how the city bought the YMCA property, performed the brownfield remediation, and sold it to a private developer, he said.

Private development is the ultimate goal, but no developers are lined up yet for Marina Towers. Nystrom hopes current marina owner Patten Marina Holdings will acquire Marina Towers, he said.

“They’ve been separate holdings for many years,” Nystrom said.

The property will be paid for with unused American Rescue Plan funds, including those meant to purchase land on Mahan Drive for a proposed police station, Nystrom said.

Council members weigh in on purchase

Getting the Marina Towers is a major component in “solving the puzzle” of developing the marina, President Pro-Tempore Joe DeLucia said.

It was also important the city got the property at a low price, Council member Mark Bettencourt said.

The project could strengthen the city’s Community Investment Fund 2030 applications, Council member Shiela Hayes said.

Past marketing attempts from the current owner have failed, and the city needed to do something, Council member Stacy Gould said.

“It’s best in the hands of the city to get it cleaned up and do something really nice with it,” she said.

Prior ownership

The Marina Towers, which city records state as being built in 1850, have been unoccupied for decades. JC CT Acquisitions LLC initially wanted to turn the building into condominiums and keep some commercial space, The Bulletin reported Oct. 28, 2006.

Later, the site was proposed for a Hilton hotel location but that plan never materialized.

JCM was also the lessee of The Marina at American Wharf until Patten Marina Holdings acquired the property on Oct. 24, according to the Norwich Assessor’s Office.