My small town of Middlebury continues to be under assault by out-of-town developers and in the first week of October of this year, that assault dramatically increased in ferocity.

A new website, shockingly with lawn signs appearing in parts of town, appeared last week entitled “middleburytaxpayers.com”. The site laughingly attempts to convince the reader that two massive distribution centers would save the taxpayers from future increases. The owners of these three firms do not live in Middlebury.

What is not a laughing matter is the largest of the three developers is the Boston-based hedge-fund Baupost Group, via its controlling interest in Timex and its real estate development arm. Baupost manages billions of dollars and its CEO Seth Klarman is one of the most well-known hedge fund managers in the world.

Mr. Klarman may be a famous person in hedge fund circles, but it is evident he could care less about the devastation that these two massive distribution centers would create via the destruction of important and historic properties, increases in pollution and significant additional tractor-trailer traffic. We have reached out to Mr. Klarman and his staff multiple times about the serious harm these projects would cause, without the courtesy of a reply.

We are not alone in objecting to these developments. Prior to our non-profit being formed, other citizen groups were created, with one suing successfully to temporarily stop the first distribution center, and filing another suit to stop the second. The resounding rejection of these wildly destructive plans has been self-evident from lawsuits won, new public officials being elected, and the largest turnout of citizens in town history in opposition at public meetings.

A sign from the Middlebury Small Town Alliance, to try to stop the distribution facilities being built at the Timex Group at 555 Christian Road in Middlebury. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)

It is astonishing that Mr. Klarman’s firm is now publicly partnering with two Connecticut based developers in an attempt to scare the citizenry into accepting horrible distribution centers, using arguments that have no connection to Middlebury’s reality.

We call on all of Mr. Klarman’s investor-clients which include hospitals, foundations and universities, Yale among them, to directly contact Seth Klarman and demand he cease these destructive projects, else begin the divestment process.

The vast majority of Middlebury residents oppose projects that harm history and the environment, and we are certain Seth Klarmans’s clients do as well.

Nicholas W. Stuller is president, Save Historic Middlebury, Inc.

https://www.courant.com/2025/10/08/opinion-three-developers-join-forces-to-harm-a-ct-town/