A large chunk of the former West Hartford University of Connecticut campus slated for redevelopment has been sold to a multifamily developer for $22.24 million.
An LLC controlled by local developer Domenic Carpionato transferred 1700 Asylum Ave. to Garden Homes, the Wisconsin-based multifamily developer it partnered with in proposing to remake the site.
Town officials permitted the project’s first phase, located on the 1700 Asylum Ave. site, earlier this year. Plans call for 322 market-rate and affordable apartments on nearly 15 acres in a project to be branded as “The Residences at Heritage Park,” while the remaining 8.9 acres of the 1700 Asylum Ave. site is preserved as public ball fields for the West Hartford Little League and Miracle League teams.
Carpionato is still working with town officials to permit the project’s second phase, across the street at 1800 Asylum Ave. Current proposals show an assisted living facility and several multifamily buildings with ground-floor retail, plus a mid-sized grocery store, clustered along a “main street,” plus a large park area centered on a pond over looked by a destination spa and a multi-level retail building.
John Cafasso from commercial brokerage Colliers’ Hartford office represented Carpionato.
“The people who live and work in this area have waited a long time for the empty campus to re-emerge in a way that befits the size, scale and natural features of this iconic property and its surrounding neighborhood,” Cafasso said in a statement. “This is a project that will connect new residences for West Hartford with the existing neighborhood, Trout Brook Trail and ballfields. This will be an iconic, first-class rental community that West Hartford can be proud of.”