Developer to renew permit for long-vacant Unionville site

FARMINGTON – The developer looking to build hundreds of apartments next to Union School is applying to renew the site’s special permit for another two years.

Middletown-based developer Centerplan Development Company originally received a special permit in 2015 to build a $60 million, 268-unit apartment complex at 19 Perry St. A felt factory sat at the site, which is immediately next door to Union School, until the factory closed in the 1980s.

Centerplan has referred to the proposed development as Old Mill Commons.

When the town’s planning and zoning commission initially approved the project in November 2015, commission members cited a number of concerns that residents raised about the Old Mill Commons complex, including increased traffic and safety worries for the students at Union School.

Residents also fretted that the complex would not fit with the town’s character, commission members said at the time.

But since 2015, Centerplan hasn’t broken ground on the site or made any tangible progress, according to town planner Mark DeVoe.

However, the developer did renew its permit in 2017, just as it’s hoping to do now. The special permit expands the site’s zoning use to include residential uses.

DeVoe said that Centerplan’s application hasn’t changed since 2015, which makes it extremely likely that the Planning and Zoning Committee will approve the renewal.

“It’s very difficult to deny an application that you’ve already approved when there’s been no changes,” DeVoe said.

DeVoe said that the developer’s renewal application was “pretty basic,” and gave no hint as to why the site has sat untouched or when Centerplan might break ground.

“It’s anyone’s guess,” DeVoe said. Centerplan representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Centerplan has been embroiled in a controversy in Hartford. The developer was hired to construct Dunkin’ Donuts Park, but was then fired and ordered to pay $39 million to a middleman insurance company.

A lawyer representing the company in Farmington told the town in 2016 that the delay on the Old Mill Commons project was unrelated to the issues at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

At the time, the lawyer — Christian Hoheb — said that the team was “still very excited about this project.”

A public hearing for Centerplan’s special permit renewal was continued from previous Planning and Zoning Commission meetings. The next hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at town hall.