Carol Horsford: “It’s a nice project, and it’s going to be beautiful, and it’s going to be great for the neighborhood that has suffered through ten years of blight.” Some of the green ornamental work can still be seen at the front steps of the house. Crumbling plaster has been piled into the center of multiple rooms. After a decade of neglect, a long-vacant house on Dwight Street is under new ownership — and is slated to be overhauled into a two-family rental with cathedral ceilings and abundant natural light. The property’s new owner, Farnam Realty founder Carol Horsford, toured the Independent around the crumbling house at 189 Dwight St. on Thursday, just 10 days after resolving a years-long legal dispute with the property’s former owner, Scott Healy. The city’s land records database shows that Horsford purchased the four-family house on Feb. 9 for $395,000. The property last sold for $125,000 in 1999, and the city last appraised it for tax purposes as worth $424,200. The renovation will cost around $400,000 and take around six to eight months, said Horsford. Her preliminary plan is to convert the four-family, two-story house into a two-family home with three bedrooms each. According to Horsford, the planned renovations are inspired by historical drawings of the property. She hopes to tear down walls to create large, dramatic spaces, though the feasibility of those plans will depend on a structural engineering assessment. While navigating around a pile of plaster, Horsford said, “You leave something unheated alone that was plaster, it just crumbles.” Inside the house, piles of debris and rotted wood dot the path to a winding, wooden staircase. White arched windows and lofted ceilings hint at the Gothic home’s former grandeur, even as water drips through gaping holes in both. According to Horsford, deterioration at 189 Dwight St. began with a major water leak in January 2016. At the time, the property was owned by Healy, the founder of a strategy consulting group and former executive director of the Town Green Special Services District. In April 2018, Healy told the Independent that he had spent two years raising capital and negotiating with his insurance company to fund restoration. In December 2019, he apologized to the Dwight Community Management Team for allowing the home to deteriorate, describing the layers of complexity and significant cost associated with the repairs. According to court filings, Horsford sued Healy on Dec. 7, 2022 for allegedly reneging on a purchase-and-sale agreement for the property, dated Nov. 7, 2022. The contract lists the sale price as $230,000. Healy alleged that Horsford convinced him to sell the property at a price far below the house’s fair market value. He also argued that the contract was invalid because the co-owner, his father, did not sign onto the sale. More than three years later, Horsford purchased the property for $395,000 and withdrew the suit. Healy did not respond to requests for comment. When pressed about the purchase price, Horsford said she could not say whether a different buyer would have paid $395,000. She was willing to pay that price, in part because she’s already planning to renovate an adjacent house on Edgewood Avenue. “In the end, money is just money. It comes, it goes,” said Horsford. “It’s a nice project, and it’s going to be beautiful, and it’s going to be great for the neighborhood that has suffered through ten years of blight.” An exploratory demolition permit was issued for the property on Feb. 10, according to the city’s online permit database. One of the white arched windows, which almost looks intact. A window from the bathtub? The post Rehab Revived For Decrepit Dwight Gem appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less