Excellent photo, by the way.

Hi Katie and Doug,

This was also reported at the Rockville Community Alliance meeting in August and we were told that the Mayor was aware of the issue and it was not our responsible as a Community group to help clean it up, as volunteers. Many people have complained about this eyesore and once the election is over today, we will once again bring it up to the Administration and continue to make it a priority.

I am so glad that you are using this resource and Doug, thank you for your attention to it through the JI

All concerned citizens are invited to our monthly meetings. The next one is Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 PM. It's the 4th Tuesday of the month and go to www.RockvilleCT.com for the location.

If you send your e-mail address and/or tel # to me at Bryan@RockvilleCT.com, you can be added to our mailing list.

Please encourage your neighbors to use this reporting vehicle too! Many voices improve our chances of improving our community.

GO ROCKVILLE!

I spoke to the Mayor (I believe it was early October) and he would only speak about the "positives". "They got $1m grant to start the work". He made it sound like it was a recent event - tracking this through the JI that $ award goes back quite a ways! The fire was this past spring. I think that wouldn't have happened if the building had been secure (apparently started by someone with a blow torch stealing copper pipe - gee, maybe the same person who stole the lights from the library?) I don't even live in Rockville - but wonder about the toll it takes on a community when this stuff is allowed to go unfixed for almost 20 years? I understand that the economy took a nosedive but you would think the developer would want to protect his investment and keep the damage from getting worse? I can understand why they do not want volunteers in there so it should have been made a condition of just handing over the title to the developer that he would secure the site, improve it's appearance and START the work within some time limit. (BTW over 30 people have viewed this SeeClickFix entry and only the 3 of us want anything done ...)

I agree... something needs to be started here. I had no idea that there was any money appropriated to start the process of repairing the building (do you know what repairs are slated for this building?). Is there something we can do, someone we can call to put some pressure on to get things moving?

I wish I'd started this before the election! That would have been pressure. Check out the link in my first post about how the town has a very recent RFP posted to have some things done - it covers the scope of what they are seeking.
"Prospective Bidders may bid on one of the three bid forms contained in the Contract Specifications.
#937A –Demolition and Hazardous Material Remediation
#937B – Structural Repairs (concrete & roof)
#937C – Demolition, Hazardous Materials Remediation and Structural Repairs". Doug can correct me but I believe the grant was set aside by Gov Rell in 2007? I spoke to Mayor McCoy face-to-face about this recently and he didn't give me the impression of someone who wanted to take this bull by the horns - which is what it needs. Again, due to this recent RFP from the Town I'm wondering if that "guy from Fairfield county" still owns it? Any chance he quietly turned it back over? Doug?

Hi again...

I located the archives and added the stories on the fire in April to the JI's Web site... here's the most recent:

Mill survives latest blaze; Developer undeterred

By Max Bakke
Journal Inquirer

VERNON -- Local and area firefighters quickly extinguished a two-alarm fire at the vacant Roosevelt Mills on East Main Street that officials believe started in a pile of debris on the fourth floor Monday.

Ladder trucks from the Vernon and Tolland fire departments were employed to knock down the fire, along with assistance from Ellington and Manchester's 8th Utilities District fire departments.

The fire was reported just before 10:30 a.m., Vernon Fire Chief William Call said.

With the blaze quickly extinguished, firefighters entered the five-story, 83,000-square-foot cement structure to mop up any smoldering debris leftover, Call said.

*
"There's still a lot of leftover stuff in the building, a lot of combustibles -- some shelving," Call said, adding the second alarm was triggered because the fire happened during the day when volunteers are less available.

Fire officials said no one was present in the building, which has been on the path to revitalization after the town received more than a million dollars in state bonding for clean up of the 100-year-old structure.

The property is targeted for development by Westport developer Joseph V. Vallone, who plans to rehab the once-fledging textile mill into apartments and office space.

Vallone said today that his plans for the mill are undeterred by Monday's fire.

The mill was constructed with reinforced concrete in 1906, and has sustain past fires -- including a blaze in 1998 that took out all of the building's windows leaving it a downtown Rockville eyesore.

"That's the reason why you look for a fire-proof building," Vallone said.

Vallone said he expects the town will go out to bid to clean up the structure and hopes to begin construction on the project as soon as he closes on a $10 million federal loan, which is scheduled to be finalized by the end of the year.

"We have every intention of going forward," he continued. "The money is in place, it's just sitting in a pot We just need to work out some issues with the town and get that money flowing."

At the mill's high point in the mid-1970s, the textile factory employed about 250 workers, but in 1988 the company abruptly closed after workers -- who had been unpaid for three weeks -- walked off the job.

While the cause of Monday's fire is still under investigation, Vallone said he suspects it may have been started by individuals with a blowtorch trying to steal piping and other items from the vacant mill.

Thanks Doug - this sheds some light on the timing of the RFP -but I am shocked to see the windows have been gone for over 10 years - and I am still concerned with what the status of the ownership is right now after more than a year of real estate investment industry shake-ups - how about the JI interviews Vallone? : )

You're welcome. You might have just tipped us to a breaking story, Katie, about the new RFP. If we reported anything on it, I missed it. I will certainly forward our conversation here to the editor and reporter covering Vernon.

Yep, I have a gift for that ... : ) Thanks, again, Doug.

I produced a 30 video minute on both this propertty & the MacDermid prop accross the street. It has run on Channel 5 numerous times. The footage is done from a parody perspective.

I think the MacDermid property is of the bigger concern.

Carl Slicer

This link makes it appear that the town now owns RM's again http://www.vernonct.com/esre.htm

The Town is proceeding with a 1.2 Million dollar clean up project, funded from a grant from the State of CT (Department of Economic Development). The clean up will consist of removal of the debris from the main structure, removal of the boiler house in the back and an environmental clean-up. The General Contractor has been chosen and will be meeting with the Town and Mr. Vallone, the developer, on site tomorrow, November 18, for final plans. Before the Town could proceed, permission had to be obtained from the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Economic Development, the State Historic Preservation Office, and National Parks and Wildlife. In particular, the progress took some time while the state and the developer worked on flood plan maps and a flood management certificate as the site is adjacent to the Hockanum River. All required items have been submitted to the State. As soon as the final approval is given in the next few weeks, the work will proceed.
John Ward, Vernon Town Administrator

I am the architect for the project known as Loom City Lofts, 215 East Main Street, Rockville, CT. I am also the developer of this project, a project that consists of the substantial rehabilitation and conversion of the Roosevelt Mill, into (68) market rate rental units and 10,000 SF of medical/commercial space on the first floor.

I have been involved with this project since 2003 and I can assure you, we have come a very long way since that time. We took an abandoned, environmentally contaminated mill and worked with the CT Department of Environmental Protection to receive an approval on the design of our clean-up plan for the site. A large part of that clean-up work has already been completed, although it is hard to detect while driving past the site in your car.

Roosevelt Mill (a.k.a. Minterburn Mill) is listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places. Our proposed design solution had to be approved by the CT State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) before it could be sent to the National Park Service in Washington, DC for their approval. This structure, built in 1906, was listed on the register because it was one of the first concrete (fireproof) mills to be constructed in New England. Reinforced concrete technology was a new form of construction at that time. Contrary to the mill's tired and misleading exterior appearance, the structural concrete has been tested and is in fact, quite structurally sound and worthy of restoration.

We are in possession of all the required approvals from federal, state and local government agencies. We have had the support of and worked in harmony with the most recent three, Town of Vernon administrations. The final and most critical piece necessary to assemble this puzzle has been the award of an Urban Action grant from the state to the town. This grant will complete the balance of the environmental clean-up work, demolish two ancillary structures, remove the remaining windows, clean out the non-bearing partitions, the mechanical systems and the debris left from the previous tenants. Public bids for this work were submitted to the town on 9.30.9, a bidder has been awarded a contract and work is about to begin within the next several weeks. The demolition project is expected to be completed by March, 2010. Construction is projected to start in the Summer of 2010 and take approximately 15 months to complete.

I have attached a photograph of the architectural rendering and the model of the new main entrance.

I am quite proud to be part of a team of many individuals who have also spent years working to save this important Rockville historic landmark. As an architect in private practice for almost 25 years, I am extremely proud to design and produce a building that embraces the current philosophies within the movement referred to as New Urbanism. I am thrilled to create a LEED certified building that embraces state of the art green technological innovations such as a geothermal heating & cooling system (for a zero carbon footprint) as well as the use of rooftop photovoltaic cells.

Wow. Thanks, gentlemen for these detailed responses. The image shows a really nice finished product and it appears that a lot of hoops have been jumped through already. So kudos for that.

Obviously, your image is an artist's rendering but I'm wondering about two things that may seem like dumb or at least premature questions ...

1. Has the layout, as pictured, been approved yet? The entrance to the parking lot looks like it'll be subject to some sight-line issues related to the corner of the building. PZC may ask you to have vehicles enter further from the building.

2. How close will moving vehicles be to the first floor windows? Seems really close in the picture. Snow plows could theoretically bury or break the glass. Or worse, a distracted driver could try to fit through one of the windows. Maybe those will be laundry and rec rooms or something like that, rather than living spaces, but my questions are just food for thought.

This will be a pretty remarkable transformation. Best of luck with it.

I am very happy to hear that this progress has been made from Mr. Ward and Mr. Vallone - my only suggestion would be DON'T KEEP IT TO YOURSELVES NEXT TIME. A little transparency goes a long way toward gaining public support.

90% of the fuel that Nasa puts on its rockets is depleted in the first few minutes to get the massive payload of the ground and moving.

I understand there is a lot of RED-Tape to go through but to not udpate for over 2 years leaves us to wonder if it went astray.

My main concern is the MacDermid property.

MacDermid is a strong, viable, multi-billion company that has walked & has ignored all but the taxes on the property.

Is there progress with MacDermid ?

Mr Vallone. Something as simply as www.WordPress.com is an easy-to-use free blog site that many of us in the Rockville are subscribe to.
Perhaps you can place an update every 6 months if that isnt too much.

Thank you for your hard work.

Carl Slicer, producer, Rockville Ruins.

Well put, Carl. I always thought MacDermid looked like a more viable business incubator type building but I have no idea about the environmental issues that may lurk there or if it will need to come down to make a wider street in front of the new Roosevelt Mills bldg.

There are some signs of progress on this finally!

I reopened this issue to let folks to share some good news ... groundbreaking on this renovation/restoration project is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Wednesday, April 28) at 2 p.m. at the mill site.

good news

sorry about the typos...

I reopened this issue to let folks know - and to have them share with others - that the good news is that the groundbreaking is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Looks like stuff already is in progress there.

nothing new to report