A look at the progress of construction on ‘The Camelot,’ which began in January 2024.

By Ronni Newton

There was no time wasted, and once the financing of “The Camelot” closed in December 2023, in January 2024 construction commenced on the project that will bring 44 units of affordable housing to a prominent location in West Hartford, just east of the Center and Blue Back Square at the northeast corner of Farmington Avenue and Trout Brook Drive.

Lewis Brown, principal of Honeycomb Real Estate Partners, which is developing the project in partnership with Vesta Corporation, Corridor Ventures, and Vallone Ventures, said the project is roughly 65% complete at this point. “We are still on track to finish everything by next spring, March or April,” he said in an interview this week with We-Ha.com.

The website (camelotwesthartford.com) is now up and running, and pre-leasing activity is underway with the ability to indicate interest through the website and add your name to a contact list. Actual leasing will open up roughly 120 days before the project completion, Brown said.

The project will bring a total of 44 apartment homes to the property, a combination of new construction on the portion of the property that was most recently Los Imperios, and an adaptive re-use and renovation of what was formerly the 52-unit West Hartford Inn. All of the units at The Camelot will be classified as affordable housing for residents at various levels of income eligibility, ranging from those earning less than 30% of area median income (AMI) to 80% of AMI. Brown said that 22 of the units will be for those earning 80% of AMI or less, which the other half of the units will be evenly split between and reserved for applicants with incomes of 50% and 30% AMI.

“It’s gone really, really well. The weather has cooperated,” Brown said, with great weather for construction during the summer and early fall. The siding is now going up on the back of the former hotel building, and installation of siding will soon be visible to passersby on the street as well.

The former West Hartford Inn was completely gutted, but the structure itself remained and that portion of the project is a bit further along. “On the hotel side, the interiors are being completed with cabinets, countertops, and painting,” Brown said.

There’s roofing on both portions of the development, and 90% of the windows have been installed so everything will be buttoned up for interior work to take place once the colder weather sets in. “We are in a really good position,” Brown said as he conducted a hardhat tour of the project.

What was 52 hotel rooms will now be 22 apartments, and that’s where most of the one-bedroom units are, Brown said. Between the two buildings, which are connected, there are five different models – 24 one-bedroom units and 20 two-bedroom units. Both buildings have four residential stories, and the newly-constructed portion contains amenity space, including a community room and fitness center, on the ground floor.

“The finishes here are identical to what you would get in non-income-restricted property,” Brown said, pointing out granite countertops and luxury vinyl flooring. There is energy-efficient heating and cooling, laundry rooms on each floor, and the entire development will have high-speed fiber-optic wi-fi installed.

There are large windows, allowing for sweeping views of West Hartford Center, Farmington Avenue, or Trout Brook, depending on the location of the unit.

At the base of the former West Hartford Inn portion of the development are two floors of parking, one of which is below ground, with a total of 52 spaces. Along with the rest of the building, the parking area is being completely renovated.

Right in front of The Camelot, the Maui gas station and convenience store has been completed and is now fully open for business and Brown said it looks great. He has already gotten to know the owner, and said the location will be a great amenity to residents of the building.

Even though there’s both a renovation and new construction, it’s considered one project and there will be one certificate of occupancy issued when the work is complete, with units in both portions of the development open to leasing at the same time, Brown said.

While the approval of The Camelot project predated the town’s adoption of its affordable housing plan just last week, this development has been praised by members of the Town Council and other local and state officials as a success story that included collaboration among multiple parties.

Before the construction commenced, the demolition work included remediation of the site, which at one point in the past contained a gas station – and not the station that is now Maui. The Town of West Hartford, through the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development’s Municipal Brownfield Grant Program, received $998,000 to assist with the remediation and environmental rehabilitation.

In addition, the project was able to secure a $3 million grant through an affordable housing fund established by the Town of West Hartford in December 2022. The Town Council unanimously approved the allocation of $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to support the goal of increasing its stock of affordable housing.

In June 2023, the Town Council also agreed to support the development of this milestone project by approving a fixed tax assessment of the property. The resolution allows the assessment of the property to be fixed at a value starting at $1,000,000 and increasing to $1,143,389 in year 10, but will still provide the town with more tax revenue for the property than is currently being received.

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