Single-family homes are on the way out and commercial space could be in the mix at Great Pond Village, in a developer’s latest vision for a massive planned community in Windsor.
Concord, Massachusetts-based Winstanley Enterprises first unveiled plans in 2010 to redevelop the 652-acre former Combustion Engineering property.
Windsor officials approved a flexible form-based zoning district to encourage its redevelopment, and Winstanley received approval in 2014 for 4,000 housing units including a mix of apartments, condos, row houses and single-family homes. Winstanley is partnering with Swiss engineering firm ABB Group, owner of the now-vacant property.
With groundbreaking still delayed four years later, Winstanley has submitted a modified plan that eliminates the single-family component and adds commercial space in the form of office, R&D, warehouse and industrial uses. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday night before the town’s planning and zoning commission. Winstanley will seek a text amendment and concept plan revision from the board, Town Planner Eric Barz said.
Winstanley declined to comment for this story, but a town economic development official said the company has been seeking developers to purchase various pieces of the property.
“They could come in and get a (building) permit tomorrow,” said James Burke, Windsor’s economic development director. “They already have approval of a neighborhood development zone, and they’ve been working off that master plan to identify a developer to take pieces out of it.”
Steve Adams
The changes to the master plan reflect evolving real estate market conditions for both commercial and residential properties.
The shift to more commercial space appears to reflect strong demand for manufacturing, warehouse and distribution space along the I-91 corridor. The Great Pond Village property shares a small border with the site of Amazon’s 1.5-million-square-foot distribution center which opened in 2016. In November, SCA Pharmaceuticals recently opened a 90,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at Griffin Industrial Realty’s 755 Rainbow Road, with plans to employ 360 employees in the next few years.
Winstanley has extensive real estate holdings in Connecticut, and the potential for industrial development at Great Pond Village would augment its more than 4-million-square-foot industrial portfolio.
The company recently acquired the J.C. Penney warehouse and distribution center in Manchester for $70 million. Other Nutmeg State holdings include a 1-million-square-foot Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. warehouse in Windsor Locks, a 600,000-square-foot office, warehouse and distribution center in Enfield leased to Lego and Coca-Cola Bottling, and a 450,000-square-foot warehouse in Bloomfield that’s leased to Home Depot.
It’s also had success with ground-up development, leasing 425,000 square feet of office and lab space at 100 College St. in New Haven to Alexion Pharmaceuticals for its headquarters in 2012.
At the same time, the single-family home market in Greater Hartford remains sluggish, in a continuation of stagnant conditions dating back to the Great Recession.
Median sales prices for single-family homes in Greater Hartford have risen 4 percent year-to-date, while sales have fallen 2.5 percent compared with the previous year, according to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors. Housing advocates say Connecticut’s housing stock has a glut of single-family homes and shortage of multifamily options for younger workers. One single-family subdivision, the 62-unit Villages at Poquonock, is currently under construction in Windsor.
Although Great Pond Village is the largest potential development in Windsor’s modern history, there’s been limited public reaction because the property is in an isolated corner of town, Burke said.
