“Drub”bing up memories

38 years ago Norman Drubner, Waterbury-based attorney, broker and developer, purchased the abandoned Bristol Babcock for $3M with visions of revitalizing the South End’s eye sore and turning a profit at the same time. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the bank. The late 80s and early 90s saw a recession and was not the greatest time for real estate so Mr. Drubner did what any sensible businessman would have done. Nothing. For 3 decades Mr. Drubner has simply paid the property taxes with no plan or intention to do anything with the property. A piece of property which he had owned for nearly 40 years and allowed it to sit as requiem to the once vibrant Brass City now is back in the hands of the City of Waterbury. The same city which happily collected property taxes on a vacant abandoned factory from a wealthy owner who had no intentions to build anything. How did the City of Waterbury allow this to happen? The Bristol Babcock Building in the South End has been the backdrop to several untold horrors and most recently (2015) a fire which put our brave Firefighters at risk to stop a blaze at a building that should have been demolished decades ago and turned into housing. Why wasn’t it. The story goes, changes in laws of the 80s and 90s, the real estate market changed, and the cost of clean up prevented Drubner to follow through on his promise. What happens next?

Flash Foward

The City of Waterbury last year agreed to aquire the property at Bristol Street with an interesting arrangement. Drubner will make $1M available to help prep the site for the clean-up. Drubner did not accomplish anything in almost 40 years with the property and now he readily forks over $1M just for the City to take it back. The property known as the Bristol Babcock Building is in the possesion of the Brass City ( also One Exchange Place ) monopoly anyone? What will they do with the property?

Step 2

The next step in the master plan for the Bristol Babcock Building was for the Waterbury Develpment Corp to put together an application ” bid ” for a $4M grant. With Drubner’s 1M, the City’s track record of landing grants, and every local Democratic politician counting 4 million chickens, we were told the grant money was not a problem. However, in the end the Southend and City of Waterbury are left with 4 million empty shells. But relax…” No big deal “… says Tommy Hyde, interim director’ WDC.

Don’t call it a set back..

In October 2023 reports came in about a $4M grant that Waterbury was going to land. The City had landed far greater amounts in the past so noone really questioned it? That would have been the funds needed to advance the Bristol Babcock building project. As of today, the grant application has been denied and there are several questions to ask, such as, how could the WDC submit the application with “no private developer ” or ” without a proposed end use “? Those words are per Jim Watson, D.E.C.D. economic community development when explaining the reason as to why the application could have been denied.

WTF!?

The City of Waterbury, WDC, requested money without stating who was going to do the job or what they were even going to build if they received the grant? The most comical aspect of this whole premise is city officials were confident ( or atleast portrayed a confidence ) that the “bag” was in the bag during election season. As 2024 begins the WDC are tempering expectations for Bristol Street. After-all there are alot of contracts and deals that have to be made prior. There is clean-up, prep, building, trucking, and construction companies that have to get on board 1st. There is one more question. Now that the City has acquired the Babcock Building who pays the taxes that Drubner paid for 37 years? I guess that is another topic for another time.