Public Hearing Postponed on 1800 Asylum Portion of Former UConn West Hartford Campus
Audio By Carbonatix
Aerial rendering of 1800 Asylum, November 2024. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group (we-ha.com file image)
The West Hartford Town Council will be delaying until early 2025 a public hearing to consider an application for 1800 Asylum Avenue.
Ground-level rendering of the walkway between the restaurant and spa and the enhanced wetland pond. The footbridge across the pond is shown in the distant left. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
By Ronni Newton
The Town Council will be holding a public hearing to consider rezoning and creating a Special Development District for the development of Heritage Park on western portion of the former UConn West Hartford campus, but that action will not be taking place before the end of this year.
A public hearing had been set for Dec. 19 after the Council officially received at its Nov. 12, 2024 meeting an application “filed on behalf of WeHa Development Group, LLC, owner of 1800 Asylum Avenue, for change of zone of approximately 33.5 acres of the site from a R-10 single-family zone to a BS shopping center zone with Special Development District Designation (SDD) overlay for the redevelopment of the site into a new mixed-use development of commercial and residential uses along with associated parking and site amenities.”
Elevated rendering includes the grocery store, wetland pond, residential/retail buildings, restaurant, spa and assisted living building along the internal drive. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
WeHa Development Group’s plans for 1800 Asylum call for demolition of the remaining buildings that were part of the former UConn campus, and construction of 11 new buildings of one to four stories. Included in the plan for Heritage Park are 93 residential apartments, one- and two-bedroom units, with 5% proposed as deed-restricted to be affordable for family incomes at or below the 80% area median income. The plans also include 19 townhomes available for purchase, six duplex townhomes, 90 units of assisted living, a 26,488-square-foot organic grocery store, roughly 42,800 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and a 42,600 square foot spa.
There remain a few outstanding questions related to the project’s traffic and parking studies, with the information important in consideration of the application, and Town Manager Rick Ledwith therefore recommended the short postponement of the hearing and subsequent Town Council vote. In compliance with the official process, the already-scheduled hearing will be opened and immediately continued on Dec. 19 without any public comment or applicant presentations.
Ledwith said the Town Council will announce a new date for the continuation of the hearing, to be held in early 2025.
“I appreciate the applicant’s ongoing collaboration with town staff to ensure the Town Council and the public have all the necessary information to fully evaluate and discuss the merits of the application,” Ledwith said. “Delays like this are common with large-scale projects, and I look forward to the future discussions about the potential redevelopment of this property.”
The new date has not yet been announced, Ledwith said, but will take place in early 2025 – either in January or the very beginning of February.
View from pond looking toward restaurant deck. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
The Town Plan & Zoning Commission (TPZ) also delayed taking action on the official referral of the application from the Town Council that was on the agenda for its meeting on Monday, Dec. 2. TPZ must act on the application prior to the Town Council’s vote.
While in August the TPZ, in its capacity as West Hartford’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency (IWWA), approved the wetlands application for 1800 Asylum, the western portion of the former UConn campus, as part of the rezoning and SDD process the TPZ must vote to determine whether or not the proposal for Heritage Park is consistent with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).
Also as part of the required process, the application was also officially referred to the Design Review Advisory Committee (DRAC) which on Nov. 14 voted unanimously, 5-0, to recommend approval of the project. DRAC had previously conducted 13 study sessions as part of the informal review process, and the recommendation letter praises the willingness of the applicant to incorporate many of the revisions suggested by DRAC during the review process.
Townhouses on Asylum along the entrance to Heritage Park. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
The recommendation letter said the “the relationship of the proposed buildings to the site and adjoining neighborhood is appropriate,” noting that while the “collective buildings are substantial,” they are compatible with their surrounding due to the placement of the largest buildings in the central part of the site, most distant from surrounding residential properties. In addition, DRAC’s recommendation states the “townhomes’ height, scale, and placement along both Asylum Avenue and Lawler Road provide for a suitable transitional response to the neighborhood” and “the commitment to providing meaningful publicly accessible open space amenities throughout the project area allows for the creation of generous planted buffers.”
Asylum Avenue townhouses (on right) looking west from Trout Brook Drive. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
The recommendation also commended the use of materials, textures, and colors, and noted the high quality and quantity of proposed landscaping. “A nice mixture of native plantings ranging from street, flowering and evergreen trees to shrubs, perennials and grasses has been effectively utilized to create a well-designed streetscape, generous public open spaces, wetlands meadow areas and appropriately planted and screened parking areas. Of note is the Design Team’s effort to preserve as many existing, mature trees as possible throughout the site,” the recommendation letter states.
The most recent changes to the application, made at the suggestion of DRAC, included decreasing the planned number of townhouses along Asylum Avenue. The building along Asylum closest to Trout Brook Drive that would have included with two townhomes has been eliminated to open up more green space and be more in scale with the residences across the street. In addition, the proposed grocery store building will be screened from Lawler Road by an “extensive planted berm in addition to a stockade fence,” the DRAC minutes note.
Aerial view from Asylum Avenue looking north. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
In a mailer sent to all households within 500 feet of both 1800 and 1700 Asylum Avenue, the developer also noted that a “green roof” has been added to the restaurant building, and they committed to pursuing other sustainability measures.
Aerial view from pond of restaurant and spa. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
That mailer also states: “From the beginning, our goal has been to create a welcoming, green, walkable village with interesting and well-designed commercial uses supported, in part, by attractive and diverse housing options on both sides of the old campus. We believe this reuse of the vacated campus will entice people to either come to West Hartford or provide options for those who wish to continue to reside in West Hartford while adding value through sustainable redevelopment. People who live in Heritage Park and the surrounding neighborhood will be able to walk from their homes to a grocery store, enjoy the day spa, grab coffee, lunch or dinner, visit the small shops use the walking trails or just take in the surroundings while relaxing by the waterside.”
Any comments and questions for WeHa Development Group can be addressed to the team through a link on their website, www.heritageparkwh.com.
Entrance to assisted living. Courtesy of WeHa Development Group
Playground and Ballfields at 1700 Asylum
A resolution authorizing the town manager to accept the donation of 1700 Asylum Avenue was received by the Town Council at its Nov. 12, 2024 meeting, and referred to the Town Plan & Zoning Commission (TPZ). The referral is a required procedure to ensure that taking possession of the property is consistent with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).
Miracle League Field at 1700 Asylum Avenue. Photo credit: Ronni Newton (we-ha.com file photo)
TPZ unanimously approved recommended the donation at its Dec. 2, 2024 meeting, and the Town Council will vote on the resolution at its meeting on Dec. 10. If approved, the developer will file a quitclaim deed and the town will take over ownership of the fields and associated parking, ensuring town control of the continued use of the property as recreational facilities.
The rest of the eastern parcel of the former campus is now under separate ownership, and will become The Residences at Heritage Park.
In August, what had been 1700 Asylum Avenue was split into two parcels, and 14.866 acres were sold for $22.7 million to a newly-created entity, West Hartford Developers LLC, which is managed by Eli Pechthold of Garden Homes. That newly-created entity will be developing the 322-unit multifamily residential development The Residences at Heritage Park – which now has the address of 1360 Trout Brook Drive – that will include four buildings as well as a community green and a variety of amenities for residents and the public.
Rendering by Minno and Wasko of the Residences at Heritage Park at 1700 Asylum Avenue. Town of West Hartford website image
In April 2024, the West Hartford Town Council approved, 8-1, an application to establish a Special Development District for the entire 23.787-acre property of what was then 1700 Asylum Avenue. At the same time, 14.866 acres of the northern portion, most of which is currently an 1,100-space parking lot, was rezoned as RMMS (residential multifamily, multistory). The rezoned portion of the property will become the 322-unit multifamily residential development The Residences at Heritage Park – which will include four buildings as well as a community green and a variety of amenities for residents and the public – while the southern portion of that property, which is 8.921 acres, will remain a residential zone R-10, with approved use as ballfields, playground, and associated parking.
It’s been nearly three years since West Hartford 1 LLC finalized the purchase of the former UConn campus property, on an “as is” basis, from then-owner Ideanomics, for $2.75 million, on Dec. 29, 2021. Dominic Carpionato is the principal of West Hartford 1 LLC, and WeHa Development Group East LLC and WeHa Development Group LLC were established for the purpose of developing the separate portions of the overall property.
UConn first announced plans to vacate the campus in 2012. It was purchased by Ideanomics from UConn in 2018, but plans to build Fintech Village were later scrapped and the property was sold to West Hartford 1 LLC. For more information and background about West Hartford’s previous history with the campus, click here.
Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.
It looks nice seeing the street view however I’d hoped they would have pushed the sidewalks on Trout Brook and Asylum back further away, 5-10 feet, from the curb instead of the standard distance since there’s plenty of land to do so and it wouldn’t impede on the development. That would encourage more people to use them by giving a better sense of safety since those are both busy main roads in town.