The longtime West Hartford home of the Children’s Museum is for sale.
Officials at the adjacent Kingswood Oxford School, which bought 950 Trout Brook Drive from the museum in 2003 and have been leasing the property back to the institution since, announced its intentions Tuesday in a letter to its neighbors.
Colliers International is handling the listing, which contains no asking price. The listing describes the 3.4-acre property as “a once in a generation opportunity to develop the only remaining three acre or larger parcel within the dense West Hartford Center core.”
Potential development options include luxury apartments, medical, office or retail.
Tom Dillow and I. Bradley Hoffman, head of school and chair of the board of trustees at Kingswood, respectively, wrote in their letter this week that selling the property would enable the school “to support faculty and staff professional growth, bolster student financial aid resources, plan for new campus facilities and expand academic and experiential programming.”
“We believe it will be positive for the Town of West Hartford, as well,” they added.
The Children’s Museum has been on Trout Brook Drive for six decades. Executive Director Michael Werle said Wednesday that the school’s decision to list the property is understandable, and said the museum is grateful to Kingswood for its support since purchasing the property 17 years ago.
“KO has been a very helpful and understanding landlord and we owe it to them to continue being cooperative in this endeavor,” Werle said.
But the listing also puts additional pressure on the museum to expedite its relocation efforts, which have been ongoing for over four years.
The museum had been in talks with the University of Hartford in early 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about relocating to a property there, and had launched a $25 million fundraising campaign to support the move.
However, Werle told HBJ on Wednesday that the talks had not produced an agreement, as the university decided to sell a broader swath of property rather than solely the section the museum wanted to buy. That may mean Werle and his board strike a deal with an eventual buyer, but it’s also forced the museum to evaluate other locations as well, according to Werle, who had initially hoped to see construction starting by March 2021 at the university.
If the Kingswood property sells quickly, Werle said the museum will seek a temporary home and is not intending to close.
While the pandemic has complicated relocation efforts somewhat, Werle said museum leaders remain excited about a potential return to Hartford — the institution’s original home dating back to 1927.
“We are excited about this potential and will be analyzing these options over the next few months as we are currently working with private and public entities to identify, assess and secure a new home site for our preschool, museum and Center for STEAM Advancement —including Conny the whale, our wildlife sanctuary, the planetarium and all our engaging hands-on exhibits for children 3 to 13,” he said.
The museum had once hoped to move to the former UConn campus in West Hartford, but faced competition from other buyers, including New York-based fintech Ideanomics, which ultimately won the deal, but is now trying to sell the property after backing out of its envisioned “FinTech Village” project. A buyer had not yet been announced as of press time.