New London — Negotiations have resumed in the stalled plan for a 202-unit residential complex on Howard Street, first pitched in 2016.

The multi-family housing project called Shipway 221 was once touted as the first “out of the ground” project in the Fort Trumbull Municipal Development Plan area but lost steam when financial backers behind the concept, the Tagliatela family, started divesting themselves of their ventures in the city.

The Tagliatelas are the owners of Franklin Enterprises and financed New London Harbour Towers and the City Flats initiative. The new project would be situated on land that was formerly home to Hughie’s restaurant, a New London institution at 221 Howard St.

Franklin Enterprises Chief Financial Officer Steve Lopes said recently that they have spent months seeking a joint venture partner for the Shipway project and have now found one. He declined to name the partner.

“We do have some very qualified people who want to join us in doing the project. We had stated from the very beginning we would be looking for a joint venture partner,” Lopes said.

With an Aug. 31 deadline looming, talks have restarted with Renaissance City Development Association and Executive Director Peter Davis. The RCDA, the city’s development arm, owns the property and has completed some of the initial environmental remediation of it.

The city signed a development agreement with Shipway in August 2017.

Lopes said the new partner is looking at the plans with the architects and considering the possibility of constructing one building instead of three, a move that would accelerate the construction schedule.

“There’s quite a bit of work being done with the architect and engineer to present some things that would be satisfactory to the RCDA and the city,” Lopes said.

Davis said he has been working with Shipway on potential modifications to the terms and conditions of the original development agreement. Attorneys for both sides are now reviewing modifications.

“What we’re looking at is the methods of financing, the design and working through those elements and potentially modifying them,” Davis said.

He said the ongoing staff-level discussions and preliminary vetting will eventually go to the RCDA’s real estate and executive committees for a vote. He said that work will still take a few weeks. If RCDA determines the development agreement is significantly modified, it would go back to City Council for approval.

“It’s very good news,” Davis said of the revival of the project. “We have roughly two and a half years working with this.”

Under the original development agreement, Shipway would purchase the land from the RCDA for $129,000 and pay the RCDA an amount equal to what the property taxes would be on the undeveloped land.

There is also a land swap needed to make the project work. The initial agreement has Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, which owns a medical complex across the street from the project, trading a piece of land it owns that cuts through the Shipway project for the RCDA-owned land adjacent to the L+M parking lot.

Shipway is expected to extend the L+M parking lot, at a cost of about $30,000, as part of the deal. Shipway has also agreed to pick up the tab for what could be hundreds of thousands of dollars in environmental remediation at the site.

g.smith@theday.com