🔒Developer eyes Windsor office-to-apartment conversions as town weighs new redevelopment regs

A New Hampshire-based developer is under contract to buy a vacant 92,000-square-foot Windsor office building, at 1 Waterside Crossing, and is asking town officials to adopt new regulations enabling the property’s conversion into apartments. The request from Brady Sullivan Properties comes as local officials seek to implement recommendations from a six-month study of the flagging 3,300-acre Day Hill Road Corporate Area. The primary economic engine of Windsor, the Day Hill Road corridor occupies 18% of the town’s land mass and is predominantly occupied by industrial buildings and large office complexes. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the acceptance of remote work, emptying many of the town’s office buildings. In 2019, 34.7% of the town’s office space was vacant, according to CBRE. That jumped to 59.1% in the first quarter of 2024. In response, town officials hired New York-based economic development firm Camoin Associates to study how best to reposition the district. That’s led to the development of two new proposed regulations that would allow much greater flexibility for developers, especially when it comes to adding multifamily housing to the area. Town planning staff and Brady Sullivan Properties jointly drafted a new “adaptive reuse” regulation that, on Aug. 12, was presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Attorney Carl Landolina, representing Brady Sullivan, told the commission the developer has completed office-to-apartment conversions in several states, and had been seeking an opportunity in Windsor before securing a contract to purchase the vacant building at 1 Waterside Crossing. The developer is also negotiating to buy 3 Waterside Crossing, a neighboring 14.1-acre property with a 125,152-square-foot office building. Made of metal and glass, and with similar architectural features, both buildings were erected in the early 1980s. “When we looked at the regulations, we found there wasn’t anything that would allow this kind of adaptive reuse in this area,” Landolina said of Brady Sullivan’s conversion plans for 1 Waterside Crossing. At present, the corridor is predominantly industrially zoned, allowing for office buildings, research laboratories, manufacturing, breweries and warehouses. Community recreational uses and hotels are also allowed with a special permit. The proposed regulations coming before town officials would not replace existing zoning, but overlay it, allowing for the conversion of underused office buildings. These zoning proposals target the north side of Day Hill Road, where most of the larger office buildings are concentrated, noted town Economic Development Director Patrick McMahon. The Camoin study recommended that town officials continue fostering a concentration of manufacturing, flex industrial and warehouse uses on the south side of Day Hill Road, McMahon said. “The idea is to really focus on areas with more significant office vacancies,” McMahon said. “We are not throwing anything out with the bathwater here.” The adaptive reuse regulations would allow for the conversion of office buildings that have been at least half vacant for one year or longer. They would allow one housing unit for every 1,000 square feet of building space. So, a 90,000-square-foot building would allow for up to 90 units. Acceptable new uses would include apartments, condos and assisted living facilities, along with offices, bank branches, research labs, extended-stay hotels, restaurants and recreation facilities. Retail uses would be confined to 20% of a property floor area, or 20,000 square feet, whichever is less. The adaptive reuse regulations allow for the addition of relatively small accessory buildings, such as apartment amenity buildings. In addition to 1 and 3 Waterside Crossing, the new regulations would apply to several other underused office properties, including:

• 1 Griffin Road North — A 457,396-square-foot office building on 72.9 acres owned by The Hartford, which consolidated out of the building in 2022.
• 1 Orange Way — A 470,000-square-foot office on 76.8 acres that Voya Financial put on the market in August 2022.
• 500 Day Hill Road — A 20.64-acre property with a 99,000-square-foot building that business office equipment supplier Konica Minolta put up for sale in 2022.
• 200 Day Hill Road — A 55,470-square-foot, three-story office building on 4.6 acres.
• 300 Day Hill Road — A 71,380-square-foot, three-story office building on 9.3 acres.

‘Active conversations’

Town staff are also proposing a Day Hill Design Development Process — a two-step review for redeveloping large sites, including beyond their existing building envelopes. The process, nicknamed DH3D, would permit a mix of uses, including office, research and development, residential, retail, hospitality, and commercial and recreational projects. Under the process, developers would first seek conceptual approval, followed by a second review for final designs. The adaptive reuse proposal is scheduled for further review, and possible approval, by the Planning & Zoning Commission in September. A public hearing on the DH3D regulations is expected in October. The Day Hill corridor’s strategic location along Interstate 91 between Hartford and Springfield, and its proximity to Bradley International Airport, continue to make it an attractive spot to land investment, McMahon said. Town staff are in “active conversations” with multiple developers and property owners considering projects in the area, demonstrating its continuing geographic advantage, he said. “Our goal was to prepare a roadmap for the community to ensure that the corridor remains an economic driver while allowing some opportunities for residential and mixed-use development,” McMahon said.