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Danbury Breaks Ground On Community Health Center At Old Police Station Site

DANBURY, Conn. — A vacant downtown lot that is the former site of the Danbury Police Station — and the long ago site of Danbury High School — has taken a big step toward a new life as a community health center. 

CIFC board chair Frank Muska, Gov. Dannel Malloy, Mayor Mark Boughton and CIFC President James Maloney turn over a ceremonial shovel full of dirt at the groundbreaking of a new Community Health Center on Main Street in Danbury.

CIFC board chair Frank Muska, Gov. Dannel Malloy, Mayor Mark Boughton and CIFC President James Maloney turn over a ceremonial shovel full of dirt at the groundbreaking of a new Community Health Center on Main Street in Danbury.

Photo Credit: Contributed
The landmark St. Peter's Church can be seen behind the groundbreaking ceremony.

The landmark St. Peter's Church can be seen behind the groundbreaking ceremony.

Photo Credit: Contributed
Daily Voice

Gov. Dannel Malloy, Mayor Mark Boughton and James Maloney, president of the Connecticut Institute For Communities Inc., along with CIFC board chair Frank Muska gathered Wednesday to lead a ground-breaking ceremony for CIFC’s new Greater Danbury Community Health Center building. CIFC serves the greater Danbury area, including Redding and Ridgefield.  

“The Institute’s new building will mean the location of approximately 60 permanent new jobs to downtown Danbury, many of them high-paying positions such as physicians and advanced practice nurses, as well as approximately 100 full- and part-time jobs during the construction phase," Boughton said. "All of this activity is a major benefit to the economic prosperity of our downtown, and the City of Danbury as a whole.”

The ceremony formally commenced the construction at 120 Main St., diagonally across the street from St. Peter Church.

The 36,000-square-foot, four-story, red-brick structure will house:

  • Pediatric and adolescent medical and behavioral health services;
  • Comprehensive women’s health services (OB/GYN and wellness);
  • Patient intake, enrollment and insurance assistance;
  • An on-site phlebotomy (blood sample) suite;
  • A full-service pharmacy;
  • Administrative offices for the health center; and 
  • the headquarters and offices for the Connecticut Institute For Communities Inc.

The Greater Danbury Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center, serves all people regardless of income or insurance; no one is ever turned away.

The 60 new jobs will have a total annual payroll of $6 million, which in turn, will be a boost to the downtown economy.

The financing for the building involved a complex mix of public and private funding: The State of Connecticut provided a grant of $4 million; private commercial mortgage financing came from Eastern Bank of Boston with Union Savings Bank of Danbury, totaling $6 million; and private investments of $5 million through the Federal New Market Tax Credit program. 

“We are pleased that the state can help move this project forward — it will both enhance community health care in the Danbury area and also provide a major economic boost to the city’s downtown," Malloy said. 

Maloney is pleased about the new construction. “This new building will allow CIFC’s Greater Danbury Community Health Center to significantly expand our Pediatric and Women’s Health services, as well as add entirely new services such as Phlebotomy and a Pharmacy, on site. ...  

"We look forward to having the building completed and placed into service by mid-2016, approximately one year from now." 

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