New London — A New York City investor appears poised to sign an agreement with the city and take ownership of the city-owned Richard R. Martin Center with plans for a $10 million senior housing complex.

Terms of the proposal became public Monday during a presentation to the City Council, the group that must ultimately sign off on the plan for it to become reality. The city has been marketing the property for years in hopes of avoiding the cost of renovating the aging building.

The proposed buyer is Tauche Capital LLC, which has already built a team for the project with Norwich-based D’Amato Builders + Advisors, an architect and property manager.

Tauche Capital, whose managing director is New York attorney and developer Malcolm Taub, has preliminary plans for 75 market-rate studios, one- and two-bedroom units of up to 900-square-feet in size for people ages 55 and up. Taub said his company has projects in multiple states and has money in the bank ready for the New London project.

“I see New London as a very exciting opportunity,” Taub said.

The company has agreed to provide a long-term lease to the city, at a rate of $50,000 a year, for the senior center, which is attached to the Martin Center.

In exchange, the city would sell the 61,000-square-foot former school for $1 and offer tax abatements that include a 100 percent tax break for the first three years. That would be followed by six years in which the tax abatement would decrease from 60 percent to 10 percent in year nine. The city will not pay rent for the senior center during the first three years.

Felix Reyes, the city’s director of the Office of Development and Planning, said Tauche Capital is taking a $5 million to $6 million liability for the city and turning it into a $12 million development while at the same time addressing a market “vitally important to keeping and attracting residents post-retirement.”

“The only way projects like this work is there needs to be a partnership on how to make the numbers work,” Reyes said.

Reyes said the tax abatement allows two years for the developer to renovate the structure and another year to rent the apartments before being taxed. The building could ultimately generate more than $300,000 in annual taxes for the city, Reyes said.

The city has been spending $144,000 per year on maintenance costs and estimates $700,000 in environmental remediation costs alone, making the $50,000 rental costs for the senior center a net savings, Reyes said.

Reyes said the city has negotiated a commitment from the would-be developer to allow FRESH New London to stay on site. FRESH operates an urban garden on the grounds of the Martin Center free of rent.

Several questions came up at Monday’s meeting, along with a hint of skepticism from some about the legitimacy of the investor.

“We’ve had a lot of people come in and make a lot of promises,” said councilor John Satti.

Others, such as Regina Mosley, spoke about the need for affordable senior housing. Councilor Curtis Goodwin, asked whether the apartments, with prices in line with the city’s $1,078 average monthly rent, would be marketed to residents or people outside New London.

Reyes said senior housing addresses a need for seniors from New London with few options in the city but who contribute greatly to the local economy.

“We need housing for healthy retirees. We can’t lose that population ... retired professionals that can be part of this community, lending their knowledge and volunteering their time,” he said.

The Martin Center, at 120 Broad St., was built in the 1930s as part of the Williams Memorial Institute, a school for girls that opened in 1891 in what is now the lower-level state Superior Court building. The Diocese of Norwich later purchased the building and opened St. Bernard School.

The city purchased the building in 1975 and has used it for a variety of city offices. The city built an addition on the southeast corner to create the New London Senior Citizen’s Center in the 1980s.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission will review the proposed sale of the city-owned property at an upcoming meeting and vote to approve or disapprove the proposal.

g.smith@theday.com