Image courtesy of 327Group

A tired Meriden hotel could be converted into over 100 small apartments according to an application from developer Adam Haston filed with the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

The Wyndham Hotel at 275 Research Parkway was built in 1985 and sits amid a cluster of industrial, R&D and multifamily properties at the intersection of Interstate 91 and the Wilbur Cross Parkway.

The nearly 110,000-square-foot building would be converted into 150 microunits averaging 300 square feet in size, each with their own bathroom and kitchen. Precedent images included in the application include rooms with custom fold-away beds or kitchen areas used to increase a room’s total usable space.

Some existing space will be converted to coworking areas and many rooms on the building’s first floor will become lounges and entertainment areas including a yoga room, a game room, a cinema room and an art studio. Other amenities will include an indoor pool, a fitness center, a vegetable garden and an outdoor terrace. Rooftop solar panels will be added to reduce the building’s electricity demand and the property’s 309 parking spaces will be retained in accordance with the town’s requirement for two spaces per unit in multifamily buildings.

A bar and coffee shop will be added and the existing hotel restaurant will be retained and updated.

The application states the building’s exterior and lobby will also be heavily remodeled.

The repositioning effort is intended to attract a wide mix of apartment tenants.

“City dwellers, young professionals, entrepreneurs, creatives and artists that are driven to live in urban areas would intermingle and share spaces with older folks in a single building that would foster the mandate to cultivate positive social interactions through the different spaces of the large facility,” the application states.

Hotels throughout the state are facing strong headwinds thanks to COVID-19, with some already having headed to the auction block.