A New Hampshire-based multifamily builder has paid $3.9 million for two Windsor office buildings it plans to transform into 171 apartments, advancing a broader push to repurpose aging corporate space along the town’s Day Hill corridor.
The town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, last October, signed off on a special permit application by Manchester, New Hampshire-based Brady Sullivan Properties to convert three-story, glass-and-metal sided buildings at 1 and 3 Waterside Crossing into 171 apartment units.
In a deed recorded March 6, Brady Sullivan paid $1.1 million for the 91,100-square-foot office building on 12.2 acres at 1 Waterside Crossing. The developer followed up with a $2.8 million purchase of the 125,152-square-foot office building on 14.1 acres at 3 Waterside Crossing, a purchase recorded March 23.
The buildings, completed in 1982 and 1984, sit near a common edge of their respective parcels and mirror one another in design.
The purchase comes at a time when Windsor is cooperating with developers in a major push to convert empty and underused office properties along its Day Hill Corporate Area corridor into apartments. The town is also seeing an uptick in requests to transform older hotel properties into apartments.
Brady Sullivan’s plans are among the most ambitious. In addition to the Waterside Crossing conversion, the company is seeking approval to convert two nearby office buildings at 4 and 8 Griffin Road North into another 96 apartments, with the two developments sharing amenities.
Brady Sullivan’s proposal for 4 and 8 Griffin Road North is scheduled for a public hearing at Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Under the plan, each 67,242-square-foot building would be remodeled to include nine one-bedroom units, 34 two-bedroom units and five three-bedroom units, ranging from about 851 to 1,342 square feet.
Planned improvements include upgraded lobby areas, fitness rooms, community space, a dog park, patios with grilling stations and other amenities. Brady Sullivan’s application describes the long-vacant Griffin Road North properties as suffering from moisture intrusion, mold, overgrown landscaping and general neglect. One building has been disconnected from utilities for more than two years and is “approaching functional obsolescence,” according to the application.
The proposal calls for a full rehabilitation of the properties, including environmental remediation, new roofs, upgraded utilities, rebuilt parking areas, energy-efficient systems, new windows and modern fire-suppression systems. Plans also include pedestrian paths linking the Griffin Road North site to the Waterside Crossing development, giving residents access to shared amenities including a fitness center, movie theater, coworking space and outdoor recreation areas.
An analysis submitted with the application says Windsor is a favorable market for market-rate apartments, citing the quick lease-up of the 230-unit Preserve at Great Pond development. The analysis says Windsor’s apartment vacancy rate, at about 2.9%, outperforms the broader regional market, where vacancy ranges from 4.6% to 5.1%. Comparable properties in the area are achieving monthly rents from about $2,000 to more than $3,000.
The Planning and Zoning Commission’s Tuesday agenda is packed with multifamily development proposals.
Condyne Capital Partners and Litchfield investor/developer Mark Greenberg are seeking a special permit to enable conversion of a vacant 99,500-square-foot former Konica Minolta office building at 500 Day Hill Road into 108 units. The special permit requested would also allow construction of three more apartment buildings on the 20-acre property, yielding another 182 apartments. The plan also calls for construction of three retail buildings totaling 19,500 square feet.
Condyne and Greenberg partnered on a $2.7 million purchase of the 20.6-acre Konica property last year.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Greenberg is seeking a separate special permit that would allow him to build two retail buildings at 465 and 475 Bloomfield Ave. One building would host a Starbucks, the other a Jersey Mike’s sub shop and a Chipotle restaurant. The two properties are located at the edge of 1 and 10 Targeting Centre, properties that currently host two office buildings. Greenberg, again working with Condyne, plans to demolish these buildings build three new apartment buildings with 201 units. Two of these buildings would stand on the footprint of the existing office buildings.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will also, on Tuesday night, hold a public hearing on Bluevale Capital’s proposed conversion of a former Residence Inn at 100 Dunfey Lane into a 96-unit apartment building – a mix of studio apartments and one-bedroom lofts – 20% of which would be set aside at affordable rents.
