STATE SENATOR
Cathy Osten
DEPUTY PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE
GETTING RESULTS
- Representing
- Columbia,
- Franklin,
- Hebron,
- Lebanon,
- Ledyard,
- Lisbon,
- Marlborough,
- Montville,
- Norwich,
- Sprague
Sprague, CT—State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) Tuesday welcomed the news that Sprague is one of 14 towns and cities across Connecticut that will be awarded state grant funding totaling $6.9 million to assess, remediate and revitalize brownfields and restore blighted properties back to productive use.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced that Sprague will be awarded a $2 million state grant to abate, demolish and remediate a 16-acre former mill site located in the center of the village of Baltic, commonly referred to as the “Baltic Mill.”
“This property at the heart of our town has the potential to have an extremely positive impact on our community, and I am very pleased that the state continues to see the merit in helping towns revitalize former mill sites,” said Sen. Osten. “This project will not only improve the aesthetics of our town for those who reside here, but will spur economic and social growth along our stretch of the Shetucket River.”
The funding will be administered to Sprague through the State Department of Economic and Community Development.
The town has been actively working to market the property, located at 29 Bushnell Hollow Road, to potential buyers and developers since 2011.
According to a report from SECTOR, the Baltic Mills Complex was at one time the largest textile mill in the United States.
The complex was established between 1890 and 1920. In 1999, it was nearly entirely destroyed in a fire which left just one of the several buildings standing.
The town of Sprague acquired the property through a tax foreclosure in 2007, with the goal of turning the property over to an investor who will develop a mixed-use design for the site that is in keeping with the appearance of a downtown turn-of-the-century mill village and contributes to the economic and social growth of the surrounding community and businesses.
The entire site and surrounding village/mill housing is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.