At a press conference in front of the long-vacant building at 333 State St., Mayor John M. Fabrizi announced that First National Development, headed by Garfield and Rebecca Spencer, has been named the preferred developer for the site. The property, at the corner of Lafayette Boulevard, abuts Housatonic Community College.

The Spencers' firm is responsible for several other major renovation projects in the city. These include redevelopment of the former Warnaco factory in the South End into the residential complex, Lofts at Lafayette, as well as the current refurbishment of the former Jefferson School into housing units and the projected transformation of a large factory building in the West End, where Cricket Hosiery and the NEST art gallery are located, into more housing.

"The Spencers have already inked a check for $550,000 for this building," Fabrizi said. "Once the City Council approves of the land development agreement, we will deposit this check in the bank and begin collecting taxes, finally, on this building."

Sounding a note of caution, he added, "The project has a long way to go, but today is the first step in making that happen."

For the State Street property — once an element in the former Lafayette Plaza — the developers envision an ambitious $9.2 million structure with a state-of-the-art automated parking system and luxury condominiums featuring rooftop gardens and sweeping views of both the city and Long Island Sound.

"You will drive your car into an elevator-like structure," said Garfield Spencer as he described the automatic parking garage. "After you leave your car, sensors will determine the dimensions of your car, and from the elevator, it will be transported to a system of rollers that will automatically transport your car to a parking spot."

He said that automated parking garages, although almost unknown in North America, are common in Europe where space is at a premium. "There are no attendants — if you cost it out, it's about the same as a traditional parking garage."

According to project director Aurora Leigh, there will be retail space on the street level, and the automated garage — with a 200-car capacity — will occupy levels two and three. Offices will take up levels four through seven of the structure. And plans call for two, and perhaps three, more stories to be added for the luxury condominiums. At least 20 of these units will be constructed with a selling price of about $325,000, they said.

"We're working with Fletcher-Thompson, who did the original engineering work, do determine whether a third floor can be added," Leigh said. She added that although the structure was damaged during construction of the adjacent college, the harm was something that could be easily fixed as the project proceeds. She also said the addition of a third floor would be "an engineering decision," and will take place if structurally possible.

Garfield Spencer said that not all of parking needs generated by the project could be accommodated by the 200-car internal garage. Some parking space will have to be leased from an existing parking garage across the street — part of the RBS building — and the college's garage to the south. "We're in negotiations on that," he said.

The city took possession of the building, constructed in the late 1960s, through foreclosure in 2006. City Council member Thomas Mulligan said although there was opposition to that action, "It was a matter of taking it over now, or taking it over three years from now — either way, the city would have not seen a dime in the back taxes owed to us."

The former Lafayette Plaza opened in 1968 and had dozens of stores, including Sears and Gimbel's. It was renamed the Crossroads Mall in 1981 in a ceremony that featured an appearance by film icon Bette Davis. It subsequently was renamed again as the Hi-Ho Center after industrialist/developer Francis D'Addario bought it in 1986.

By 1994, with retail traffic evaporating downtown, the mall was closed and it was sold to the state as a new site for HCC. The 333 State St. office building remained in D'Addario's hands, but about $3 million was owed in unpaid taxes to the city by Bee's Knees, a subsidiary of the D'Addario estate when the city initiated foreclosure proceedings.

Earlier this year, Greenfield Partners of Norwalk, which had previously been selected as the preferred developer for the project, dropped out of an agreement to convert the building into 65 apartments.