Image courtesy of Phase Zero Design

Planning officials in Berlin have approved a proposal from a Rocky Hill developer to build an apartment complex at 404 Berlin Turnpike.

Commercial Services Realty plans to build 200 apartments – 160 market-rate and 40 affordable – split between five 4-story buildings, along with a gas station with a drive-through retail space, a 7,280-square-foot stand-alone retail building and a development pad that can accommodate a 100-key hotel or a medical office building.

The plan received the town Planning & Zoning Commission’s unanimous backing last week according to meeting minutes.

The project would be built in phases, according to presentations made to the commission: the gas station first, followed by the apartments, then the retail building and finally the fourth pad. The developers promised town officials they would return for approvals once that pad’s use was defined. The state’s hotel industry has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its future is uncertain with some owners selling and other developers pushing ahead with multifamily conversions.

The apartment portion of the project would include 40 studios, 120 1-bedroom units and 40 two-bedroom units. Amenities will include a pool, game rooms, meeting rooms, a kitchen, a dog wash station and a gym, along with a limited number of covered parking spaces.

As part of the project, developers would build a 4-acre, publicly accessible recreation area with walking trails in an area of the large site covered by floodplains and wetlands. The trails will connect to both a public parking area and the apartment complex.

Commercial Services Realty had not sought zoning variances but the project did require the parcels involved to be rezoned. The project has already received wetlands permits.