A 164-acre cluster of properties along Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury has sold for $6.25 million to a local developer planning a 120-room Holiday Inn Express as part of a broader mixed-use “Olympic village”-type development.
According to deeds recorded Nov. 4, Adam Westhaver of Simsbury purchased five parcels from a limited liability company affiliated with industrial real estate firm Indus Realty.
The parcels include 54.2 acres at 1503 Hopmeadow St., where Westhaver recently received town approval to build the hotel, which will be located just north of the International Skating Center of Connecticut. Westhaver also partially owns the roughly 95,000-square-foot skating complex, which hosts public skating and competitive events and serves as home ice for numerous youth and high school hockey teams.
In addition to the hotel, Westhaver plans to develop the 1503 Hopmeadow St. property with athletics-oriented businesses, restaurants, retail and other uses that complement the neighboring skating center. He envisions a network of trails connecting “New England village”-style buildings.
“We want to make sure it fits into an Olympic village-style of development,” Westhaver said. “We don’t want any strip malls on the property. This is a pretty special community. We want to make sure we develop it the right way.”
Westhaver declined to estimate construction costs for the hotel — a project he aims to launch early next year and complete in two to three years. He said the entire redevelopment represents an investment of “tens of millions” of dollars.
He plans to construct buildings tailored to tenants he is now recruiting. If ongoing talks with prospective tenants succeed, the site could be fully built out within five years — though it might take up to a decade, he said.
The skating center alone already draws thousands of visitors for tournaments and special events, often from beyond Connecticut’s borders.
“We had an event a few months ago that drew 6,500 in one weekend,” Westhaver said.
Westhaver does not yet have a definitive plan for the remaining 109.8 acres of former farmland. Much of that land has a high water table, which makes construction difficult. He is considering several possibilities, including passive recreation areas, parkland, sports fields or a combination of those uses.
Rich Correia, an executive vice president with RM Bradley, helped market the property and secured the buyer.
