Winstanley pledges 22 acres of open space as Enfield distribution center plan moves forward
Michael Puffer
Development giant Winstanley Enterprises is pledging to
donate 22 undeveloped acres to Enfield as a conservation buffer to its planned
819,000-square-foot distribution center on the former Hallmark property.
Plans for development of 35 Bacon Road received approval
from the town’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency last week among stiff
opposition from residents living around two lakes near the edges of the
property.
Winstanley, on Monday, announced its intention to donate 22
acres, a combination of field and woods, bordering Spruceland Road. That
neighborhood runs along one side of Crescent Lake.
“Donating the land as open space further memorializes in
perpetuity our commitment to maintain an existing and mature perimeter tree
buffer and open space,” said Adam Winstanley, a principal with the company.
“We understand that this is an important take-away for the neighbors and
helps to alleviate hypothetical concerns pertaining to future development of
the parcel. It also yields considerable new designated open space for the town
and its residents.”
The town’s Inland Wetlands agency board approved the
proposal last week. Concerned residents packed the board’s Jan. 18 hearing,
sharing their concerns in more than an hour of testimony. They worried about
impacts to wildlife, as well as potential runoff flooding of neighboring
residential areas and contamination of wells and the nearby Crescent and
Shaker Pines lakes.
“I’m really surprised it has even gone this far because they
are putting this giant almost 1-million-square foot building, cement structure,
in between two of these beautiful lakes we have,” said Angela Foss, who lives
off Crescent Lake.
Winstanley said it has taken care to incorporate resident
concerns in its designs.
In a release issued Monday, the company said the wetlands
agency’s decision cited a minimal impact on wetlands and natural habitat, plans
for a closely monitored stormwater management system and preservation of trees
and vegetation on the perimeter of the nearly 200-acre development site.
Winstanley plans to begin construction of its distribution
center by this summer, completing construction within one year. Winstanley
spokesman Matthew Watkins previously said two undisclosed tenants have already
signed letters of intent to occupy the building.
The proposal must also undergo site plan approval from the
town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, a process that begins in a meeting
Thursday, according to Watkins.
Watkins said the 22-acres would be gifted, with restrictions
keeping it forever as open space, after the last regulatory approvals have been
granted to the development.
Winstanely paid $12 million in 2015 for Hallmark’s former 1
million-square-foot distribution center in Enfield, which included 324 acres.
The commercial real estate developer and investor reports spending more than
$41 million to renovate two Hallmark buildings, drawing three tenant companies
in 2018.
Winstanley also carved off a 200-acre parcel that is the
subject of the current development proposal.
Winstanley already owns several industrial leasing spaces in
Enfield, including a 500,000-square-foot distribution center leased to Advanced
Auto Parts; a 600,000 square-foot office, warehouse and distribution facility
leased to Lego and Coca-Cola Bottling; as well as a 500,000 square-foot
warehouse under construction on North Maple Street that will be occupied by
Agri-Mark dairy products and life-science company Eppendorf.
The company owns and operates more than 9.3 million square
feet of commercial space in Connecticut and 11.4 million square feet
overall.
New solar farms coming to East Windsor, Orange; sheep will be hired for property maintenance
lans for two new solar energy projects, in East Windsor and
Orange, are moving forward after an OK from the Connecticut Siting Council.
Energy firm Greenskies Clean Focus, which is developing both
projects, said the solar farms will be based on agricultural land, an
intersection sometimes known as “agrivoltaics” or “agrisolar.” Construction is
expected to begin later this year, according to company officials.
The 5-megawatt East Windsor solar array will occupy about 20
acres at Mulnite Farms, off of Miller Road. The solar panels will be arranged
in linear rows separated by a 16.5-foot-wide aisle, and Greenskies plans to
contract with a sheep farmer who will introduce a flock to the area to graze,
cutting down on mowing and maintenance costs.
The Orange project, listed at 2.9MW, will occupy six or
seven acres of land at Treat Farm, off of Old Tavern Road. Under the terms of a
virtual net metering agreement, the solar array will act as a distributed
energy resource for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system,
creating opportunities for cost savings at its locations.
Both projects have an expected service life of between 20
and 30 years.
Quinnipiac University eyes new biz school as part of $244M expansion
Quinnipiac University’s board of trustees has approved a
$244 million investment to construct three new buildings at its Mount Carmel
Campus in Hamden, including a new business school.
The expansion — to be paid for through a combination of the university’s
endowment, philanthropic efforts and debt financing — will include the addition
of two academic buildings and a residence hall, which will become part of the
school’s new South Quad section on campus, the school said.
“This unprecedented set of investments, the first stand-alone new buildings on
the Mount Carmel Campus since the early ‘90s, will enable necessary advances in
academic, research and student learning-living experiences at QU for years to
come,” said Quinnipiac President Judy D. Olian. “They are critical in achieving
the ambitious goals articulated in our strategic plan as we create the
University of the Future.”
The three new buildings will be located on the Mount Carmel Campus between
Tator Hall and the current College of Arts and Sciences on the southern part of
campus.
The proposed new buildings include:
A 79,000-square-foot School of Business that will feature a
business incubator to build and test new ideas; a Financial Technology Center
where students will use trading platforms, investment tools and data systems;
faculty offices; and flexible lecture and event space that can seat up to 150
people to facilitate large and small gatherings.
A 137,000-square-foot general academic facility that will
feature wet and dry labs, a greenhouse and vivarium (animal habitat), space to
expand QU’s computing programs, classrooms, collaborative spaces for breakout
and group study and deans’ and faculty offices. In addition, the building will
house an auditorium to seat 600 to 800 people.
A 417-bed residence hall that will allow the school to offer
more singles and doubles and accommodate more residential students on campus.
All three buildings will aim for LEED certification and are scheduled to open
in 2024, the school said.
144 More Apts. Planned For Westville
Another 144 new apartments are planned for Westville Village, according to a rezoning application recently submitted to the Board of Alders by the owners of an existing three-story office building on Blake Street.
That application is included as a communication on the agenda for Monday night’s full Board of Alders meeting.
It now advances to the City Plan Commission and an aldermanic committee for review, before returning to the full local legislature for a potential final vote later this year.
The so-called petition to amend Planned Development District (PDD) #103 asks the alders to increase the total number of residential dwelling units allowed on the property from 293 to 437.
That’s because the owners of the existing three-story brick office building at 446A Blake St. would like to convert that structure and add two new residential buildings to the 1.89-acre site, to add a total of 144 new apartments on Blake Street between the West River and Stone Street. (The PDD already includes 293 market-rate apartments at the adjacent Wintergreen at Westville complex, which has the separate street address of 400 Blake St.)
According to the PDD-amendment application, the owners of 446A Blake St. — a holding company controlled by Tom Gelman and Yair Barda of Brooklyn, as well as by a California-based company called Moonars LLC — plan to set aside 7.5 percent of the proposed new 144 units at deed-restricted rents affordable to tenants earning 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) for 40 years.
“The comprehensive plan identifies a number of planning themes including: (i) housing suitable for all ages; (ii) tax-generating development; (iii) job creation; (iv) sustainable transportation; and (v) high density to ensure neighborhood growth and stability,” local attorney James Segaloff wrote in the zoning application on behalf of the Blake Street landlord.
“The Westville area and particularly the Westville Village, has the potential to become a significantly vital and vibrant community. Residential units located essentially around the corner from the Village and in a location with available transportation, will enhance physical and social connectivity among neighbors and among the neighborhood.”
The rezoning application comes as that very stretch of Blake Street is undergoing some tectonic shifts in its neighborhood-specific real estate market.
An affiliate of Ocean Management is in the process of building 129 new market-rate apartments just a block away at the site of the former 500 Blake Street Cafe. And the adjacent 293-unit Wintergreen at Westville/Westville Village apartment was recently bought by a New Jersey-based investor duo for $50 million.
Click here to read the 446A Blake St. PDD modification application in full.
Would "Inclusionary" Law Apply?
The application also raises questions about if and how the city’s new “inclusionary zoning” (IZ) law would require a deeper level of affordability in the set-aside apartments than the Blake Street developer is currently proposing.
That IZ law, which the alders passed on Jan. 18, requires new or significantly rehabbed buildings with 75 or more apartments citywide to set aside 5 percent of units at 50 percent AMI for 99 years. That’s a deeper level of affordability for a longer period of time (though among fewer set-aside apartments) than the developer’s proposal to set aside 7.5 percent of units at 80 percent AMI for 40 years.
The city’s IZ law is scheduled to go into effect Feb. 18.
So, at a glace, this project would fall under IZ.
Or maybe not.
For one, that start date for the local IZ law may get pushed back several weeks — or even months — if the City Plan Commission, the Board of Alders and the city decide that the text of the law needs to be amended to make clear the city’s intent of enforcing rent caps through the legislation.
Secondly, even if the alders keep the Feb. 18 start date, this 446A Blake St. may be exempt from IZ’s rules by qualified as a “prior submitted” development application.
The IZ law as currently written and approved exempts from the affordability mandates developments that already exist or that have already been submitted to the city for some level of approval.
The question the city and the alders will have to face on this, and other zoning-related development applications, is: Does a rezoning application submitted before Feb. 18 count as a development application, and therefore exempt the proposal from IZ? Or is it merely an application to enable a future development, and the specific building proposal would fall under IZ?
Without commenting on this or any other specific rezoning applications, city Assistant Corporation Counsel Mike Pinto said that PDD modifications are significantly different from a typical rezoning application — and therefore would likely qualify as an IZ-exempt application, if submitted before Feb. 18.
That’s because PDD modifications by their very nature go beyond simply requesting zoning changes. They also detail specific plans for a specific building or buildings on that specific site.
“Generally speaking, a PDD application that spelled out a specific set of proposals and modifications that would go into that PDD would qualify as a development for grandfathering” — that is, for being exempt from the IZ law as currently written.
That’s not necessary true for more run-of-the-mill rezoning applications, which are not tied to specific building plans.
“When you evaluate a general zone change, a general mapping question, it has to stand on its own, regardless of what the developer or owner might want to do subsequently,” Pinto said. “When zone changes are discussed, there’s no reference to any development. It’s what you’re permitted to do with those rezoned parcels.”
While Pinto declined to comment on how this interpretation of the new law would affect any specific proposals, his reading would mean that the IZ law could apply to a Philadelphia-based developer’s plans to construct 136 apartments on Olive Street. That developer, PMC Property Group, has submitted a rezoning application for 78 Olive St.
South Windsor: Main Street bridge to be rebuilt by September
SOUTH WINDSOR — The town announced Wednesday that it will
close a portion of Main Street beginning on or about Feb. 21 in order to
demolish and replace the traffic bridge over the Podunk River.
Town engineer Jeffrey Doolittle said the expected cost of
the new bridge is $2.6 million, with $800,000 of that coming from the $15
million bond referendum approved by voters in 2018. The remaining funds are
from the bridge program grant from the state Department of Transportation and
the town capital projects budget. About $1.9 million of the cost will go to the
contractor, Dayton Construction. The remainder would be for utility relocation,
engineering, inspection and contingency costs, he said.
Doolittle said that the bridge is expected to be completed
by Sept. 30 in order to accommodate the Hartford Marathon, which is set for
Oct. 8.
“The contractor is planning to start work at the end of
February so there is enough time to complete this project by that date, even if
there are some minor delays,” Doolittle said.
Doolittle said a detour would be established using Chapel
Road, Route 5, Burnham Street, King Street, and Brook Street.
The existing bridge was built around 1907 and was
reconstructed in 1981, Doolittle said. The age and deterioration of the bridge,
which has led to its narrowed lanes, make the work necessary.
“The existing bridge also needs to be replaced instead of
repaired because it does not meet the current bridge design standards,”
Doolittle said.
Doolittle said the new bridge would be similar in look and
size to the existing bridge, but longer, and will function in a similar manner.
“There will be two lanes for traffic to cross this bridge as
there is now,” he said.
DOT project engineer David Gentile said that at the same
time the bridge is being replaced, the state will perform work on two culverts
that run under Interstate 291 and King Street, likely this spring.
Gentile said that project, which will cost $4.3 million,
involves replacing both ends of the 420-foot culverts. A start date has not
been scheduled, but the Department of Transportation expects to close King Street
northbound for 140 days.
“We have to reopen it before the Hartford Marathon,” Gentile
said, adding that the anticipated completion date is Sept. 26.
Gentile said the culvert project would also require a
detour, and the Department of Transportation is working on how to facilitate
traffic during construction.