Preston — Residents will gather at Preston Plains Middle School on Thursday at 7 p.m. to vote on approving the sale of two parcels of land on Route 12 to the Mohegan Tribe. The parcels total approximately 30 acres and have been owned by the town since September 2023. The town acquired the land by foreclosure. According to an Oct. 19 letter from the tribe to the town, the Mohegans will pay the town $200,000 for the land. The tribe plans to use the parcels, which are a small part of the Preston Riverwalk Project. In 2009, the town acquired the abandoned 393-acre Norwich Hospital property along Route 12 and the Thames River from the state. A small portion is located in Norwich. The town then received millions in state funding to clean up the contaminated site. In 2017, the town and tribe agreed that once that was done, Preston would convey the property to the tribe. Almost all of the 56 former hospital buildings have been demolished as part of the cleanup. The transfer to the tribe is expected to occur soon. The project is envisioned by the tribe as a non-gaming destination and calls for outdoor and indoor attractions, hotel and retail space, restaurants, housing, a marina, RV park and more. The land where the Preston Riverwalk Project would be located is of historical significance to the Mohegans, as it is next to Brewster’s Neck Cemetery and land on which early American settler Jonathan Brewster established a trading post hundreds of years ago. This land was granted to Brewster by his friend and trading partner, a Mohegan sachem named Uncas.
Preston to vote on selling piece of former Norwich Hospital land to Mohegans
