A New Proposal for the Old Montgomery Mills Building in Windsor Locks

Restoring life to the old Montgomery building and retaining some of the town's history can be a difficult balance to create.

Tonight during a special Economic, Industrial & Development Commission meeting, members of the Windsor Locks Hydropower LLC is going to give it a try.

The corporation will present its ideas for how to "develop the hydropower potential at the Montgomery Building and Horton Mill site" during the meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Ella T. Grasso Conference room at town hall.

The property has an appraised value of $900,000 and its redevelopment is part of a plan to revitalize Windsor Locks’ downtown. In addition to the appraisal, the site also comes with a hefty price tag in the form of hundreds of thousands of dollars in outstanding tax liens, which town officials say they intend to collect.

In October, the property was put up for a public foreclosure action after a one-month delay. At that time, just two bidders came forward, with the winning bid worth just $15,000.

Town officials objected to the bid, saying that the money would not even pay for the costs the town has already incurred associated with the building.

The property consists of three contiguous parcels; together there are about 3.3 acres of R-DRD zoned land, with two buildings plus a detached garage comprising of approximately 255,446 sq. ft. of old mill structure.

The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.