Nearly a decade after the University of Connecticut board of trustees voted to move its West Hartford branch campus to Hartford, the Town Council on Tuesday approved a major mixed-use development for the site.
By a 7-2 vote, the council approved an application submitted by WeHa Development Group LLC, which owns the 33.5-acre site at 1800 Asylum Ave.
Council members Alberto Cortes and Mary Fay, both Republicans, voted no.
The application sought to change the property’s zone from R-10, a single-family residential zone, to a BS shopping center zone with a Special Development District (SDD) overlay to allow the site to be converted into a development with commercial and residential uses.
The project, called Heritage Park, will include:
- Six, single-family duplex townhouses and 112 multifamily units, including 93 rental units above commercial space and 19 for-purchase townhomes along Asylum Avenue;
- An assisted living facility with 90 units;
- Approximately 42,800 square feet of space for retail shops and a “signature” restaurant;
- An approximately 42,600-square-foot spa, and
- An approximately 26,500-square-foot “organic grocer.”
The 93 multifamily rental units will include a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments in two buildings, with 5% of the units to be deed-restricted to remain affordable for residents with family incomes at or below 80% of the area median income; the rest will be available at market rates.
In addition, the developers have agreed to extend the Trout Brook Trail, a public walking trail, from the southern end of the site to the northern edge at Lawler Drive.
Tuesday’s approval comes 10 months after the council granted final approval to a four-building, 322-unit apartment complex at 1700 Asylum Ave. across Trout Brook Drive, on a site that holds the parking lot for the former UConn branch and three youth baseball fields.
While the 8.9 acres that hold the ball fields have been donated to the town, the remaining 14.86 acres to be developed into an apartment complex, known as The Residences at Heritage Park, was sold in August for $22 million.
The sale to Milwaukee-based Garden Homes Property Management Corp. was announced by commercial real estate firm Colliers, which represented the seller, Domenic Carpionato of West Hartford 1 LLC.
Before the vote to approve the development at 1800 Asylum Ave., Mayor Shari Cantor noted that the council has been discussing the project for years, “so it’s overtime to do the right development there and that’s what I think we have seen.”
She added that the project went to the town’s Design Review Advisory Commission (DRAC) 13 times and changed significantly from the original proposal.
“That is because of the intense and collaborative work staff was able to do with this developer to bring a development that will support our community in a lot of different ways,” she said.
Cortes cast his dissenting vote after stating he would like the project to have more affordable housing units and raising concerns about adding retail space when Blue Back Square, located less than 3 miles away in West Hartford Center, has vacancies. He also said the town doesn’t “need another grocery store.”
Fay joined Cortes in voting against the project, saying she has concerns about the density of the housing on the site and that she would prefer to see an over-55 community developed there instead.
While the lengthy approval process is over, actual construction of the project will be done in phases and could take several years. The first step will be to remediate environmental issues on the site and demolish existing buildings.
The UConn trustees voted in April 2015 to approve moving the branch to downtown Hartford after 40 years in West Hartford. The branch is now located in the former Hartford Times Building on Prospect Avenue, which officially opened in August 2017.
