Study: Trumbull Mall could double in size, add hotel and walking paths
TRUMBULL — Future visitors to the Trumbull Mall could find a
larger but more walkable property featuring hiking trails and a hotel,
according to a series of ideas put
forth by the consulting firm Stantec during a packed Town Hall meeting
Tuesday on the mall's future.
The firm has
worked for nearly a year on drafting a plan to improve the area
surrounding Trumbull Mall.
"The mall does serve a large population and it’s
actually retaining its viability at a time when a lot of other places are
failing," said Maggie Connor, principal and senior urban designer at
Stantec. "Development plans that we’ve worked on are usually about a place
that is closed completely. But here in Trumbull, we have a place that is not
just viable, but successful and continuing to add more leases."
Connor said the firm has reached the end of the first
phase of its market feasibility and land use study after the company
gathered information on the mall's current issues and the changes residents
want to see.
Data the firm gathered from 2022 showed the mall attracts
nearly 500,000 visitors annually, in addition to generating about $4.5
billion in retail sales.
Connor said the study helped identify key issues to renew
the area.
"The weakness here is that there are unmet
opportunities for growth and there’s a bit of a tiredness, I would say, about
the mall itself," Connor said. "There is an opportunity to understand
how we can fix that moving into the future."
The study focused on the area between Main Street and Madison Avenue, from the
Merritt Parkway and the Bridgeport-Trumbull line.
Connor said there is limited, if any, walkable areas for
neighbors to get to the mall and this contributes to the lack of foot traffic.
“When we look at Madison Avenue and Main Street, they’re
missing sidewalks and there are portions that don’t have any sidewalks. We
don’t have crosswalks or pedestrian access to the mall. It’s really just
vehicular,” Connor said. "Also, when we look at the transit experience,
where the bus drops off is pretty isolated and far from the mall. I think it
gives great access for people to reach the mall, but it’s difficult to get from
one place to the next."
As a solution, she said the mall's current entrance from
Main Street could be downsized to add crosswalks. She also showed graphics of
how the area could look with more green space.
"Right now, there are six lanes of traffic for the
entry, which is in excess of what is actually needed to adequately serve this
site," she said. "One possibility would be to look at narrowing the
entrance coming in so that it’s more like a town street, where you still can
come in two ways and have turning movements but plenty of capacity to service
the mall. Then, land ... could be used for public open spaces, stormwater
management, pathways and more."
Another idea shared during the meeting was constructing a
network of walking trails along the area's perimeter, spanning about three
miles of connected paths.
Connor added that this could be accompanied with a section
of greenery spread alongside the Merritt Parkway.
Connor listed a variety of potential commercial
businesses who could come to the mall such as: a hotel, a medical office,
senior housing, office spaces and even a pickleball court.
She added that if businesses like these are added, the
mall's square footage and parking spaces could double.
According to data gathered by the firm, the mall takes up
over 1.1 million square feet and has around 2,300 parking spaces. If more
commercial entities come to the area, it could expand to over 2.3 million
square feet and over 5,000 parking spaces.
About a dozen residents spoke at the meeting, raising
concerns about safety, vacancies and the effect of future development on nearby
neighborhoods.
"There is a stigma that there's a safety issue,"
said resident John DelVecchio. "The perception is that in order to get the
mall back to where it needs to be, women have to feel safe there..."
Director of Economic and Community Development Rina
Bakalar in response refuted online talk about crime at the mall.
"We don’t have a lot of violent crime there at
all," she said. "I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be ever diligent or
cautious, but we do not have regular muggings and purse-snatching going on
there."
The majority of crime at the mall is shoplifting, she said.
Resident Jeanne Gibbs said it could be beneficial to
bring in more kiosks to fill the vacant corridors. She added she was glad to
know Namdar Realty, which bought the mall in 2022, and town officials were
looking to improve the mall area.
She said Stantec's presentation was a good start.
"We can all agree that businesses are the lifeblood of
every community, but the people are its oxygen," she said. "I hope
the overall design ultimately does attract more people."
East Hartford approves conditions of $6.5M state grant for Founders Plaza redevelopment
East Hartford’s Town Council on Monday night agreed to
conditions for the use of a $6.5 million state grant to demolish a building
within the Founders Plaza office park, which will make way for a massive,
mixed-use redevelopment.
Under the agreement, the money will be used to demolish the
182,890-square-foot former Bank of America office building at 20 Hartland St.,
which is also known as 99 Founders Plaza. Any leftover funding could be used to
further other elements of the “Port Eastside” development along the eastern
bank of the Connecticut River.
Port Eastside LLC – an entity backed by a group of prominent
area businessmen – paid $4 million for the building last summer. At the time,
they pitched a multi-building and multiphase development of up to 1,000
apartments, 300,000 square feet of commercial space and a package of park
improvements capitalizing on the riverside location. The commercial and public
amenity portions of that vision have been scaled back.
The agreement approved Monday night would require Port
Eastside within four years to have a building permit for an apartment structure
with at least 150 units. If the development team doesn’t meet that deadline,
the state grant would transform into a loan accruing interest at the rate of a
15-year treasury bond, plus 4%.
That is a less strict requirement from the draft agreement
introduced to the council last week, which required a building of at least 150
units to be ready for occupancy within four years. It did hold out the
possibility of time extensions.
Council member Travis Simpson expressed some concern about
the reduced requirements Monday. The town had seen other permitted developments
fizzle, he noted. He would have preferred to see a requirement of a completed
building, even if the timeline were extended to seven years.
Mayor Connor Martin and other officials noted Port Eastside
is already heavily invested in the project with last year’s $4 million
purchase, and the need to spend significant funds to get through permitting.
Add to that the possibility of having to pay back the state’s $6.5 million
grant, and you have a strong inducement, Martin and others noted.
“Us making that change signals to the developer we want to
continue to be a partner, we want to be realistic about how fast they can move,
how fast we can move,” Martin said. “We just found it much more realistic to
require a building permit than a TCO (temporary certificate of occupancy).”
Council members ultimately voted unanimously to support the
agreement.
Chris Reilly, president of Lexington Partners, the Hartford
development group spearheading the Port Eastside project, said the added
flexibility is needed due to the difficult financing climate. Regional banks
have “retreated” from construction lending, making it that much more difficult
to secure financing, Reilly said when reached after the meeting.
Reilly agreed that the money the development group already
invested, along with funds that will be spent in design and permitting and the
threat of the state grant turning into debt are strong incentives to ensure the
project moves forward.
“I understand the concern, but the discipline of debt will
ensure it,” Reilly said. “That is a very strong motivator to get something
done.”
Reilly gave a rough estimate of mid- to late-2028 for the
first building to be completed. It would include about 40,000 square feet of
retail space, Reilly said last week. While the agreement commits Port Eastside
to a minimum of 150 apartments in the first building, the aim is closer to 300,
Reilly said.
Town council members have consistently voiced enthusiasm for
the transformation of the roughly 50-year-old Founders Plaza office park.
Chairman Richard Kehoe noted an update to the town’s plan of conservation and
development a decade ago set a goal of transforming the riverfront into a more
vibrant “24-7” area.
“This is the start of what is very much a transformative
development along our riverfront, and it is consistent with our vision for our
riverfront,” Kehoe said.
Waterbury park getting a makeover
SLOAN BREWSTER
WATERBURY – As part of nearly $9 million funding package
from the federal government, the city will get $850,000 to help make the road
through Hamilton Park more pedestrian friendly.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, in a news release
Monday, announced the fiscal year 2024 budget, which was signed into law by
President Joe Biden and includes funding for 14 community projects in the 5th
District.
The Hamilton Park project is part of the master plan to
convert the 92-acre park into athletic fields and courts, said Tommy Hyde,
executive director for Waterbury Development Corp. The city originally applied
for $5.3 million, so officials will have to determine how to best apply the
funds.
As part of the redevelopment, Hamilton Park Road was
temporarily closed to cars with Jersey barriers placed at the road’s
intersection with Silver and East Main streets, Hyde said, indicating that
speeding cars and drivers using the road as a cut-thru had been creating
problems.
“We don’t want a road bisecting the park,” he said. “The
idea is to make it more pedestrian friendly.”
Cheshire-based design firm SLR Consulting recommended
converting Hamilton Park Road into a 12-foot pedestrian walkway and multiuse
trail with amenity space and lighting. SLR landscape architect Suzanne Schore
has cited the plan as one of the most significant parts of the master plan.
The 12-foot walkway would close traffic between a new
parking lot where the tennis courts are and Seven Angels Theatre.
The redevelopment project is being phased-in based on
funding, Hyde said. So far a significant amount of trees were taken down, and
two buildings were demolished.
Crews are actively working on repairs to the pool, pool
house and promenade, he said. The next iteration is to permanently close the
road and to add the parking lot and sidewalks.
Hyde said he was not sure of the timeline of the project as
the bill was just approved.
Work on the master plan began in 2020 with neighborhood
community meetings and the hiring of SLR Consulting.
Elsewhere, Plymouth will get $959,752 for upgrades for
phosphorus removal at the Water Pollution Control Facility.
Pulling organics, including phosphorus, from rivers and
water bodies is mandated by the state, Assistant Plant Manager John Tomasella
said.
“We can’t do it biologically here, which means we have to
add chemicals,” he said.
The upgrades will make that possible. Tomasella was
uncertain when the project would be done.
“We just gotta, you know, start getting the ball rolling,”
he said. “For the taxpayers and for us who work at the plant, the sooner the
better, because it becomes a violation if we don’t meet the requirements of the
state. So obviously the sooner the better.”
The Torrington Housing Authority will get $45,000 for
repairs to the fire suppression system at Torrington Towers, a public housing
complex.
Housing Authority Executive Director Claudia Sweeney said
some equipment needs to be replaced. She said there were no timelines for the
project yet.
Sweeney said she applied for the funding after reading about
in a newsletter distributed by Hayes.
“I love it,” she said about the newsletter. “It lets me know
everything that’s going on, what she’s doing.”
Hayes, in the release, indicated negotiations to get the
projects funded took nearly a year.
“This appropriations process was very different from
previous cycles,” she said. “I advocated tirelessly for these projects with an
unclear path forward.”
Other projects include $50,000 for drinking water system
improvements at units of affordable housing in Goshen; $500,000 to upgrade the
Litchfield Volunteer Ambulance Facility; $110,000 for the Perry Street
Affordable Homeownership project in Salisbury; $100,000 for a food pantry at
The Gathering Place Community Church in Waterbury; $300,000 for affordable
housing infrastructure for the Morris Housing Authority; and $225,000 for
Flanders Nature Center to build an environmental education pavilion in Woodbury.