Picture emerges for old campus
In West Hartford, redevelopment for ‘neighborhood village’
WEST HARTFORD — The sharpest picture yet for the redevelopment of the former University of Connecticut regional campus in West Hartford has emerged in new preliminary plans for a “neighborhood village,” including nearly 500 apartments
The new owners of the former, 58-acre campus — a short walk from Bishops Corner — also plan shops, restaurants, a spa and an organic grocery store.
The owner and developer — West Hartford 1 LLC, a development group led by investor and developer Domenic Carpionato — has dedicated areas for town parks, including a community green, and walking trails. The preservation of municipal ballfields, a priority for the town, also is part of the plans.
West Hartford 1 did not have a comment Monday. Town economic development officials declined comment because the plans are preliminary.
The redevelopment of the former campus — divided in half by Trout Brook Drive between Asylum Avenue and Lawler Road — is considered a crucial opportunity to redevelop one of the last — and largest — remaining open tracts of land in West Hartford.
The project also provides the opportunity to boost the tax base and attract more people to live in town. The plans for the property also have the potential to reverse fortunes of a disappointing relocation of Uconn a decade ago and the collapse of subsequent plans for a high-tech park.
The latest plans call for the majority of multifamily housing in five, 5-story buildings on the half of the property east of Trout Brook. The new plans call for 392, one- and two-bedroom units, ranging in size from 870 to 1,270 square feet.
The vision for west of Trout Brook also includes housing but in a “mixed-use” approach with apartments over retail space. The
western half of the property also would include medical offices, a 3-level parking garage and nearly 1,900 surface parking spaces divided between both sides of the project.
The plans call for the demolition of the former, now vacant, college buildings, which will first require environmental clean-up. Many of the campus buildings are contaminated with PCBS.
If the plans continue on their current path, future development also would likely require a zone change from the existing designation that only permits single-family houses to multi-family and mixed use.
The new plans have evolved over the course of five meetings with the town’s design review advisory committee. It is not clear when a final proposal would be submitted to the town.
The developers have not disclosed a cost or how the project would be funded. But it is likely the development would exceed $100 million based on comparisons with other projects of similar size in the region and unfold over years.