UConn has reached out to Torrington city leaders to offer the municipality the first chance to buy the property within its borders that served as UConn’s regional campus until mid-2016.

The University sent a letter Wednesday to city and state leaders to notify them that UConn plans to sell the land and three buildings on the 95-acre property, where the University ended academic programs in mid-2016 due to dwindling enrollment.

EdAdvance, one of Connecticut’s six Regional Education Service Centers (RESCs), has expressed an interest in buying the M. Adela Eads Classroom Building and property around it for use in the educational programming it offers for 24 school districts in western and northwestern Connecticut.

Under state statutes, Torrington is entitled to receive first notice of the University’s intent to sell any or all of the property within its borders, and the city has the first opportunity to negotiate a purchase agreement.

Under the terms of those statutes, Torrington has 45 days – in this case, on or before April 16 – to notify UConn that it wants to negotiate a purchase.

If it decides against buying the site, UConn would be free to move forward with a process that will allow potential purchasers to compete for the campus, and then to negotiate a purchase agreement with another buyer. Torrington would then have a second chance to buy the property by matching the terms of the successful buyer.

The Board of Trustees would need to approve any such agreement.

That board had voted in August 2017 to authorize UConn administrators to negotiate an agreement in which the University would lease part of the site to EdAdvance and transfer the rest to the city, then assign the EdAdvance lease to the city.

Since then, however, EdAdvance determined it would be more practical to buy the classroom building than to lease it, since it would need to bear the expenses of modifying the structure for its use.

The University’s Feb. 28 letter to the City of Torrington provided more details and also outlined some specifics to be worked out:

• Since funds for the 1965-era classroom building were a gift from an estate, legal issues would need to be resolved to determine the appropriate way to transfer ownership of that structure either to the City of Torrington or to another buyer.
• UConn’s Litchfield County Extension Center remains in use at the site and is subject to a charitable use restriction, so UConn would need to work with any potential buyer – be it the city, EdAdvance, or others – to lease that part of the campus to UConn for the center to remain there until at least early 2026.

“UConn is appreciative of the importance of this property to the City. At the same time, the University has an obligation to be prudent with its assets,” UConn President Susan Herbst said in Wednesday’s letter. “We look forward to continuing a constructive conversation, with the goal of reaching an outcome that serves Torrington, UConn, and the State of Connecticut.”

UConn closed the Torrington campus at the end of the spring 2016 semester based on declining enrollment, which continued despite efforts to recruit and retain undergraduates through increased marketing, scholarships, and outreach to the region’s high schools.

All current students at the time were offered spots elsewhere in the University, and although UConn continues to operate the Extension Center there and maintain the property, there are no academic programs or courses offered at the campus.