The Westbrook Outlets could soon be demolished to make way for a roughly $425 million development mixing 595 apartments, 100 townhomes with a new hotel, restaurants and entertainment space less than a half-mile from the shoreline.Prolific Hartford-based developer Lexington Partners is proposing redevelopment of the 49.7-acre property at 314 Flat Rock Place in Westbrook. That […]
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The Westbrook Outlets could soon be demolished to make way for a roughly $425 million development mixing 595 apartments, 100 townhomes with a new hotel, restaurants and entertainment space less than a half-mile from the shoreline.
Prolific Hartford-based developer Lexington Partners is proposing redevelopment of the 49.7-acre property at 314 Flat Rock Place in Westbrook. That would require demolition of four 1995-vintage retail buildings totaling 257,115 square feet, and a cinema built in 1999.
“It will feel like a town center,” Lexington Partners President Chris Reilly said. “It will have a main boulevard with apartments over retail and a lot of open space.”
Lexington presented its basic concept for redeveloping the struggling retail center to Westbrook’s Zoning Commission on Monday. Reilly said the shops are currently about 25% occupied.
Lexington will partner with the existing property owner on the project. The property is managed by North Plainfield, New Jersey-based Levin Management. In 2017, the Westbrook Outlets property was sold for $37.4 million by Tanger to an undisclosed buyer.
The property lists T WESTBROOK CENTER LLC as its current owner. The LLC lists a Miami Beach, Florida business address. It's principal, another LLC, lists a New York address and is registered in Delaware.
“We are going to take the lead on it,” Reilly said. “They will retain majority ownership.”
Brighter future
Lexington, which would get a minority ownership stake, had developed plans for 965,565 square feet of new apartment space in five buildings, some with ground-floor commercial space.
The buildings would include 30 studio apartments, 209 one-bedroom units, 306 two-bedroom dwellings and 50 three-bedroom units.
The plans also call for a pool partnered with a 14,400-square-foot amenity space, as well as a 1,000-seat amphitheater. There would also be 73,656 square feet of commercial space, most of which would be occupied by restaurants, Reilly said.
The goal is for construction to begin sometime in the first two quarters of 2025, but that will depend on obtaining local and state permits.
The project is getting a warm welcome in Westbrook, whose plan of conservation and development specifically identifies the flagging outlets as a priority redevelopment opportunity.
“What they are proposing to do falls almost exactly in line with what the property needs,” said Westbrook Town Planner Peter Gillespie. “(The Westbrook Outlets) really is, at present, being vastly underused, so this is a nice opportunity for that property to be redeveloped and see a brighter future for us. We are very excited about the possibility.”
The development largely conforms to the town’s “turnpike interchange zone,” Gillespie said, but there may be some zoning changes required. Plans call for buildings of about 60 feet in height, 10 feet higher than currently permitted.
The development might also require some relief from parking requirements, he said.
Locally, Lexington’s plan will also require a wetlands review.
At the state level, the project must pass reviews from the departments of Transportation and Energy and Environmental Protection to address traffic and other issues. Westbrook has public water supply but no public sewer, which has been an impediment to large-scale development.
‘Scale rarely seen’
Gillespie said Lexington first approached the town about 18 months ago, presenting a concept far grander than any development he can recall.
“There was a big ‘wow’ factor when they first presented the plan to us,” Gillespie said. “The scale of it was eye-opening. It’s a scale rarely seen.”
Gillespie said Lexington Partners has a reputation as a quality developer of large-scale projects elsewhere in Connecticut. That includes the recently completed 292-unit redevelopment of the former Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery campus in West Hartford.
“We are very familiar with Lexington Partners and their projects throughout the state and their ability to do this,” Gillespie said. “That gives us great confidence.”
