Former nursing home building in Derby sold for $450,000

Jan. 13--DERBY -- A Watertown-based limited liability company that brings foreign high school students to the United States and places them in parochial and private schools will spend at least $1 million to turn a former nursing home on Marshall Lane into a dormitory, according to the founder of the business.

APEX International Education Partners, a for-profit-business, already has a smaller dormitory on the campus of Chase Collegiate School in Waterbury. APEX paid $450,000 for the former Marshall Lane Manor nursing home in Derby. The seller was Simonetti Realty, which operated the 120-bed facility for a number of years before it closed in June 2015.

The nursing home was operated by Anthony Simonetti and his brothers and sisters. Simonetti is Shelton's Republican Town Chairman and also a first ward aldermen.

Plans for the conversion from a nursing home into a dormitory were approved by the Derby Planning Board in December. David Guerrera, the founder of APEX International Education Partners, said he hopes to have the dormitory open by July.

3) 110 person occupancy.

Students attend classes at one of the five to seven schools that the company is affiliated with and are driven to and from the schools on buses that are provided by Apex. The students come to America on F-1 visas, which permit them to stay in the United States as long as they are attending educational institutions, according to Guerrera.

Guerrera acknowledged that some neighbors of the former nursing home were against having it turned into a dormitory.

"My one goal right now is turn this building into a world-class facility and make sure that the residents of the neighborhood are happy," he said.

Guerrera said he is initially looking to hire five to seven people to work at the dormitory, including residence assistants, maintenance people and custodians.

The dormitory has been approved for 110-person occupancy, but Guerrera said he expects to have between 25 and 30 students living there this fall.

"It will probably take at least three or more years before we reach full capacity," he said.

Simonetti said he had tried to pitch several potential uses for the facility between the time the nursing home closed and the present.

"I thought it would make a perfect senior citizens center for Ansonia and Derby," Simonetti said. "Then I thought perhaps it could be used as an adult day facility for seniors who can't be on their own during the day. But neither idea worked out."

He said turning the nursing home into a dormitory "will bring something new into the community."

"The people who live there will spend money and will employ local people," Simonetti said. "And it will raise the profile of the community."

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com

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