Capitol Products offer rescinded

WINSTED — The Board of Selectmen was informed at its meeting on Monday, April 18, that an offer to buy the former Capitol Products building on 35 Willow St. has been rescinded.The building has been vacant since Capitol Products went out of business in 2005.According to Tax Collector Arlene Boutin, the company has owed the town $84,203 in back property taxes since 2004.In January, selectmen held a meeting in executive session to discuss the property, but did not make any formal decisions.At Monday’s meeting, real estate agent Kevin Nelson, who works for Litchfield County Commercial, told the selectmen that the prospective offer from Joe Marchell is off the table.“The offer submitted by [Marchell] to either submit a non-refundable $2,500 advanced bid for a tax foreclosure sale or to purchase the town’s tax lien for $2,500 has been withdrawn,” Marchell said. “The reason given by [Marchell] was the inability to get any response to these proposals from the town after repeated efforts over the last several months. The owner is very frustrated that this opportunity was allowed to pass in such a fashion.”Nelson added that the property is being put back on the market and that he hopes someone else will be willing to purchase the property despite its “challenging issues.”At a previous meeting earlier in the month, Economic Development Commission Chairman David Pratt urged the selectmen to make a decision on the building.At Monday’s meeting, Pratt said he is very disappointed that Marchell had withdrawn his offer.“We desperately need to have these buildings in town move forward,” Pratt said. “This offer had no strings attached. [Marchell] was willing to handle all of the remediation himself.”Pratt referred to other buildings in town that are no longer in use and are currently vacant.“We are becoming known as the community of bad properties with blighted eyesores,” Pratt said. “That is not how we want our community to be known. Hopefully the selectmen will take [offers] more seriously. This is an indication of how not to move forward.”