🔒State commits $2M to Newington town center plan as HHC vacates 50-acre campus

Connecticut has awarded Newington $2 million to fund the first phase of a town center revitalization effort covering nearly 90 acres, as Hartford HealthCare departs from the sprawling campus. The state Bond Commission approved the grant on May 29, directing the funds toward infrastructure improvements identified in a master plan the town adopted earlier this year. The plan envisions a walkable, mixed-use town center rebuilt around two large underused or vacating properties — the former Keeney Manufacturing site on Main Street, where a developer has already proposed a 244-unit mixed-use complex, and Hartford HealthCare’s roughly 50-acre campus, which the health system has been winding down in recent years. The HHC parcel is the largest single site in the study area. The town’s master plan consultants, Camoin Associates and Colliers Engineering & Design, flagged the campus as offering what they described as “significant redevelopment opportunities at a scale distinct from the town center’s existing development pattern.” For the Keeney property at 1170 Main St., plans are further along. Manhattan-based Stillman Development has proposed a 244-unit mixed-use project it is calling Town Square and Garden, featuring 47,750 square feet of retail, a 21,500-square-foot performing arts theater and 658 underground parking spaces. The project, designed by Spivak Architects, is currently in pre-application review with the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The master plan divides the overall study area into three zones. The first, Constitution Square, is the existing commercial core and is seen as the most immediately improvable with streetscape and pedestrian upgrades. The second covers the Lowrey Place and Northwood Plaza corridor, which consultants described as car-dominated and at risk of further decline without a strong anchor use. The third is the former HHC campus, where residents told consultants they want commercial or mixed-use development along Constance Leigh Drive and outdoor recreation with trail connections to Cedar Mountain, along with housing targeted at older adults. The town has identified roughly $5 million in total infrastructure improvements needed to support the plan, with the $2 million bond allocation going toward intersection upgrades, improved sidewalks, streetscape enhancements, new gateway and wayfinding signage, and the activation of pedestrian alleyways and gathering places in Constitution Square.