Bank offers to donate former building to town

WINSTED — Bank of America has offered to donate to the town of Winsted its former bank building at 44 Elm St.

The bank closed that location in July; it has been vacant since then.

According to the town’s online assessor’s database, the building was built in 1955 and is appraised at $796,800. It is two stories high and on 0.6 acres of land.

Town Manager Robert Geiger told the Winsted Board of Selectmen at its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 16, about the bank’s offer. 

“When the bank took over the building they did environmental audits along with asbestos abatement assessments,” Geiger said. “They removed all of the asbestos. I met with our environmental attorney and Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan. They believe that this is a good deal for the town. There is a very little risk of anything. It’s not like we’re taking over an old burnt-out factory building. It’s been a bank for almost 65 years.”

Geiger said the building is close to the town’s center and is in a “critical spot.” 

“This offers us a lot of possibilities,” he told the selectmen. “For the bank to make this offer I think is extremely generous and beneficial to the town. We’ve thought a lot about what could be done with this property.”

He didn’t give specifics about those development ideas at the meeting.

Geiger said that the board needs to send the offer of the donation to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review.

If the commission approves the donation it will be sent back to the selectmen for an assessment and for deliberation.

The selectmen can also send the proposed donation to any town commission for review if it chooses to do so. 

Mayor Candy Perez said that a  special town meeting would have to be held and residents would be asked to vote on whether or not the town should accept the property. Geiger said that Town Attorney Nelligan is looking into whether a town meeting is needed to accept the donation.

Geiger said that the building is a donation and not a purchase, unlike the Lambert Kay building which the town purchased for a $1 in 2002 after a special town meeting.

“If there is anything out there that has a low risk — and we spent a lot of time with the attorneys going over details — this building would certainly be a boon for us,” Geiger said.

 “This is a serious opportunity and we have lots of options that will be at our disposal. This is very kind and considerate of the bank so I am trying not to give them too much of a hard time.”

Geiger added that the bank has requested help from the town in the search for a drive-up ATM site.

“They are looking to maintain a presence in the town,” Geiger said. 

He said that no location for a drive-up ATM has been found yet.