A “smash” of an event in Meriden!

A “smash” of an event!

It was great to join some very dedicated Meriden officials today to celebrate the pending demolition of the Mills Memorial Housing Complex (Mills), located at 40 Mill Street in downtown Meriden.

The Mills is a former 140-unit, 1960’s-era distressed public housing complex that was acquired by the City of Meriden from the Meriden Housing Authority in 2018 for the purposes of demolition and construction of the Harbor Brook Flood Control Plan at the site. The demolition project is the culmination of over eight years of planning and community engagement that resulted in a consensus plan to demolish the Mills.  Instrumental to the planning process were the Meriden City Council, the Meriden Housing Authority, members of the City/Meriden Housing Authority Joint Planning Group, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and over 200 stakeholders who have worked cooperatively to develop a Transformation Plan for downtown Meriden and the Mills. That plan, the Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan, calls for the demolition of the Mills and the construction of new mixed use, mixed income, private development in the surrounding neighborhood. Funds  for  the  demolition  project  were  provided  by  a  2014  Department  of Economic  and  Community  Development  (DECD)  Municipal  Brownfields  Assessment  grant ($180,000) and a 2016 DECD Municipal Brownfields cleanup grant ($2 million).   For more information, please contact the City of Meriden Department of Economic Development at: (203) 630-4151 or visit http://www.meriden2020.com/Downtown-Redevelopment