Selling Seaside

Courtesy of Don Carter

As we were coming over on the Orient Point-New London ferry on Sunday, we saw Seaside Sanatorium still sitting there abandoned on the Waterford waterfront, which reminded me of this story last week about Gov. Rell flipflopping and further mucking up its fate.

Seaside, if you’re not familiar with it, was a Cass Gilbert-designed waterfront medical center dedicated in the 1930s to treating children with tuberculosis. Over the decades the once-picturesque facility has fallen into disrepair, before being abandoned altogether by the state in 1997. Our friend Don Carter (author of Connecticut Seaside Ghosts) and his New England Paranormal Video Research Group have visited the site, recording EVPs during their investigation.

Anyway, as the state is trying to sort out its budget mess, the governor and legislature are considering selling some “state assets,” such as Seaside. You know, because it’s good sound business to sell coveted waterfront property right now while values are down and everyone knows you’re in a financial bind. Oh wait …

Interestingly, the state, local officials and a developer had orchestrated an excellent $7.1 million deal that would’ve benefitted everyone and restored Seaside’s historic buildings, made practical use of the property and opened the waterfront to the public — all with private money — but Gov. Rell swept in at the last minute a nixed the deal on a whim, undoing years of negotiations in a single stroke that now looks even more capricious and inane, especially given the current economy and real estate market.

Of course, also knowing how slowly the wheels of government turn, we expect  that if there are any restless spirits roaming the grounds of Seaside Sanatorium, they should be able to continue uninterrupted for years, maybe even decades, to come.