A town hall meeting is scheduled for March 11 in council chambers to a review of any and all ideas. But first, city leaders want to hear from citizens in an online survey.
The city will use the insights from the survey and the town hall meeting to create a request for proposal for the downtown redevelopment. It will invite bids from qualified individuals or groups to complete the work.
Questions on the survey include:
- What types of goods or services do you typically go outside of downtown Middletown to find?
- In what ways do you believe the redevelopment of downtown Middletown will benefit the City of Middletown?
Residents can take the survey between now and March 7 online at https://cityofmiddletown.org/forms.aspx?FID=70.
Last month during a strategic work session, Lisha Morlan, Middletown economic development director, outlined last year’s successes before addressing goals for 2025, which included the “elephant in the room — the Manchester Inn.”
The former Manchester Inn on Manchester Avenue, just steps ways from the city building, was once a vibrant landmark in the region and has been vacant for years and is now owned by the city. Next door to the hotel is the also-vacant and city-owned Sonshine Building at 101 N. Main St.
In October 2022, the city spent $112,000 for a company to clean out the two properties in hopes of making them more attractive to potential developers — and less attractive to people seeking shelter.
The five-story Manchester Inn, which closed in January 2011, is included on the National Register of Historic Places and has 119 rooms and is approximately 60,000 square feet. It was 102 years old in November.
The future of the Manchester has been a contentious topic for years, with former owners and developers unable to follow through with plans for renovation, most recently Weyland Ventures of Louisville, Ky. It terminated a pre-development plan with the city in September.
Weyland’s assignment was to revitalize the six city-owned properties in and around downtown.
Morlan told council the challenge for Weyland and others is, “There is no place-making. So to just repurpose one building, it doesn’t bring people there, the experience isn’t there so it needs to be a phased strategy to bring people there for multiple reasons.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Morlan asked council for input on doing the refresh as a package or stand alone and is there a “willingness” to consider demolishing any structures.
Vice Mayor Steven West II said, “We need a dose of reality. What are we going to do downtown regionally? Not just one particular building, not just one particular intersection or one block. It’s being cohesive.”
Councilman Paul Horn said the decision has to be made to bring people downtown for business and work. That means micro-apartments and storefront businesses that might include chains, he said, pointing to Oxford.
“We have great buildings, great structures with great history, but some of them just might have to go to make it where people want to live and come downtown,” Horn said. “At times you have to do things that are not popular.”
Horn said when someone talks to him about the Manchester Inn rehab, he tries to scare them away with the reality of a multi-million dollar price tag and a 100-year-old building with an 100-year-old building code.
Councilman Paul Lolli said a successful downtown revitalization “Is a package deal and I am willing to consider demolishing whatever structures we have to.”
“This is going to be a sore subject, tearing down the Manchester, but it is a decision that has to be made. At the end of the day it’s all about money and some of the things I have heard on that it would take to rehab the Manchester is nearly $18 million. That is what we are going to have to seriously look at as part of a whole plan,” Lolli said.
Mayor Elizabeth Slamka said it makes sense to develop a plan for the whole area, but called for getting feedback from residents first.
More Middletown news online
Visit journal-news.com to see content about the City of Middletown.
About the Author
