West Hartford gets $998k to renovate former hotel into multi-family residential complex
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz visited West Hartford to announce the awarding of a grant for just under $1 million to redevelop the property at 900 Farmington Ave.
The state funding is part of a larger package of $24.6 million for local communities to help with costs associated with assessing and remediating 41 blighted parcels of land in 16 towns across the state, for the purpose of putting them back into productive use, via the Department of Economic Community Development’s Brownfield Remediation and Development Program.
The project, the remediation of the former West Hartford Inn and redevelopment into a 44-unit affordable, mixed-income, multi-family residential complex by developer WHI Camelot, LLC, was approved by the town and the grant was applied for in September of 2022.
“Gov. Lamont and I support projects like these, as one of our goals is to increase our state’s affordable housing stock for families and working individuals,” Bysiewicz said this week.
“Part of our economic recovery from COVID-19 is providing opportunities to redevelop existing structures like these, to bring them into the future. People want to live in Connecticut, and we have seen that influx of population with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bysiewicz said. “With a vibrant and walkable downtown area and great schools, towns like West Hartford are where residents want to call home. Together, through grant programs like this, we are making our communities not only better places to live, but we are making our communities more affordable and more accessible.”
At the West Hartford Town Council’s meeting on Sept. 13, where the grant application was approved unanimously, Town Manager Richard Ledwith said the re-use of the Inn would also include new construction on the site, and would increase the town’s affordable housing stock in an area of town that needs it most. It is also centrally located, near public transportation, and close to the downtown shopping and business area.
“This location is ideal for planned redevelopment, due to its proximity to the center and Blue Back Square,” Ledwith said. “It also is located on a major bus line. With all of the development occurring around the center and Blue Back Square, to be able to offer affordable housing as an option would be a terrific opportunity for our community.”
“This is an important investment,” said Mayor Shari Cantor, “but the reason for the development and the reason, I think, that we’re all so enthusiastic about it is the opportunity to bring diverse housing stock to an area of West Hartford that really is seeing a lot of wonderful new investment and rentals, but they are expensive.”
The current five-story building, constructed in 1967, also includes a parking garage and a restaurant building.
For more information, visit www.westhartfordct.gov or https://portal.ct.gov/DECD/Content/Community-Development/03_Funding_Opportunities/Brownfields-Remediation/Brownfield-Municipal-Grant-Program.
