Owners of The Center Circle have requested that the Redevelopment Agency repair the rear parking lot and access way after they claim it was damaged as a result of construction and materials related to the adjacent Meridia Water’s Edge project.

The Center Circle‘s attorney, Joan Stavros of Warren-based Adler & Stavros, sent a letter Sept. 26 to the Redevelopment Agency requesting immediate repair to damage sustained to the rear parking lot, drain basins and general access from Main Street to the library. Stavros cited a 2002 agreement that all upkeep, maintenance and improvements to the City Hall Plaza parcel will be the responsibility of the agency.

Throughout the 15 years of its operation, and in an effort to be a good neighbor, Stavros said Center Circle agreed to various easements on its property. The damage, she said, was due to the various right-of-ways and heavy duty construction equipment and materials stored on the parking lot site during construction of Meridia Water’s Edge. After more than a year of construction, the five-story, 108-unit project began leasing units this past summer.

Owners of the Center Circle requested that the entire lot and access way be “milled, re-graded, sloped and pitched correctly to assure the facility will not sustain flood damage.” A second drain basin has been damaged and will need to be rebuilt before any paving project goes ahead, she said.

The Center Circle has been for sale for several years and had been in negotiations with AST Development, which proposed a 248-unit, three-building project on the site.

During last week’s Redevelopment Agency meeting, Redevelopment Agency attorney Frank Regan suggested to commissioners that the Center Circle was holding off sending the request while they were in negotiations with AST. Unexpected environmental remediation on the site have thrown a wrench in negotiations on the project. If the project were to move forward, there would be no need to exercise those rights.