A developer has increased the size of a proposed housing project on the former Hartford Insurance campus in Simsbury, with revised plans now calling for about 689 units ahead of a key public hearing next week.
The Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency is scheduled to hold a public hearing May 5 on the proposal and could take action at that meeting, according to an agenda published by the town.
The updated application, submitted by The Silverman Group, seeks a wetlands permit to build the housing development at 200 Hopmeadow St., with associated roads, parking and infrastructure. Town staff said the project qualifies as a “large and complex” application requiring third-party review.
The latest plans, titled “The Ridge at Talcott Mountain South,” outline a mix of housing types — including apartment buildings, duplexes and single-family homes — that would be built in phases. Specifically, plans call for:
- Eight, three-story apartment buildings with 32 units each;
- Five, three-story apartment buildings with 36 units each;
- Four, four-story apartment buildings with 45 units each;
- Twenty-seven duplex buildings with two units each; and
- Nineteen single-family homes.
The revised 689-unit count marks an increase from the roughly 669 units previously discussed when the developer first outlined its plans earlier this year.
The wetlands application has been deemed a significant regulated activity and must be approved before the project can move to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further review.
According to the staff report, the proposal would disturb about 3.76 acres within the site’s upland review area but would not directly impact mapped wetland soils. Much of the work would occur within the footprint of the former office building and parking areas.
The property, part of a 177-acre parcel known as Hartford South, was once home to a roughly 600,000-square-foot office complex that was demolished in 2016. The site is bounded by Hopmeadow Street, Minister Brook and the Farmington River.
The proposal follows a lengthy dispute over redevelopment of the property. Simsbury’s Zoning Commission in 2024 rejected a prior plan from the developer to build 432 units, which had already been scaled back from an earlier 580-unit proposal.
The developer later sued the town over that denial, but a Superior Court judge dismissed the case earlier this year.
A separate portion of the former Hartford campus, known as Hartford North, has already been redeveloped with nearly 300 apartments, commercial space and an assisted living facility.
