🔒$100M mixed-use development eyed for Enfield’s riverfront

Two prominent local development companies are setting their sights on redeveloping part of the Connecticut riverfront in Enfield with more than 300 residential units, retail and a waterfront park.

Lewis Brown and Gregory Vaca of HGRE Ventures, a partnership between Avon-based Honeycomb Real Estate Partners and GRAVA Properties of West Hartford, presented preliminary plans to the Enfield Town Council this week for the Enfield Station development – a $100 million, two-phase project that would bring more than 300 residential units to the riverfront section of Thompsonville.

The first phase would create a four-story residential building with upwards of 165 market-rate apartments, a portion of which would be affordable.

Key to the development, which is planned for a 3.24-acre brownfield site at 33 North River St., is its proximity to Enfield’s new multimodal transit hub where work on the future Amtrak Hartford Line station is expected to begin next year.

The development property is the former Bigelow Carpet manufacturing plant, which has been underutilized since the mid-1970s, suffering from years of neglect and contamination, the development team said.

While Vaca and Brown have not yet submitted a formal site plan application for the project, they have been meeting with town officials on the development. 

Earlier this week, the town council authorized Enfield’s town manager to seek a brownfield remediation grant for up to $4 million from the state Department of Economic and Community Development for site cleanup, an early step in the redevelopment process.

Previous environmental work on the site identified contaminants that will need to be remediated, said Vaca, who is founder and president of Grava. 

Brown, who is a principal and managing member of Honeycomb, said the development’s design “emphasizes its commitment to creating an accessible and engaging community space … with direct access to the Connecticut River, enhanced by a public river walk and waterfront amenities.”

The development team also includes Newman Architects, with preliminary designs reflecting the historic mill style, keeping with the character and heritage of the Thompsonville neighborhood and enhancing the area’s historical charm, the team said.

Also part of the area revitalization is a rebuilding of a pedestrian bridge that connects Enfield with the town of Suffield over the river.

The Enfield Station project “exemplifies Transit-Oriented Development by providing high-quality housing community near a major transit hub, and this development will support the state’s goals of expanding housing options and improving transit accessibility, while revitalizing and returning to the community a beautiful stretch of Connecticut riverfront,” the development team said.

The developers are working on a purchase-and-sale agreement with owners of the North River Street property, and will also seek to acquire an additional parcel, currently owned by Eversource, for the project’s second phase.
 
Phase two will include another building similar in size and design, roughly 150,000 square feet, with 150 to 160 apartments and likely some commercial space, ideally a restaurant with river views, Vaca said.

Vaca said the team will pursue other public funding options as well as private financing, but that it’s too early to determine which grants they might seek.

Brown and Honeycomb’s portfolio includes the conversion of the old West Hartford Inn into The Camelot affordable housing project, and The Monarch affordable housing project in New Haven. 

Vaca is in the process of building another transit-adjacent development, the Founders Square project in Windsor Center, with a mix of apartments and retail near the train station.