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A Hartford apartment developer is in the early stages of proposing to redevelop a defunct hotel near the Interstate 91-Route 9 interchange in Cromwell.

The Red Lion Hotel on the 100 Berlin Road site closed abruptly in mid-2020 amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. Hotels across the state spent much of the year shuttered or in the doldrums with travel either effectively banned or very difficult and the collapse of both business and leisure travel demand.

Lexington Partners plans to file a proposal with town officials for a 260-apartment mixed-use redevelopment of the hotel property according to minutes for the town Planning & Zoning Commission’s Dec. 7 meeting. Also on the table for the project: 31,500 square feet of commercial space, 12,000 square feet of amenities and 24 townhome-style condominiums. Lexington Partners has also acquired an abutting property, bringing the total development site to 12 acres.

A Lexington Partners representative making an informational presentation to commissioners also noted that Tecton Architects has been engaged to design the $100 million project. Lexington Partners owns or manages over 3,000 apartments nationwide.

The project would need wetlands permits and approval to rezone the site to a mixed-use category.

Hotel-to-multifamily conversions are an increasingly common feature of the state’s commercial real estate scene, with projects from downtown Hartford to Meriden largely focused on older properties in need of capital investments.