HARTFORD — A plan to redevelop part of the former Hartford College for Women campus into graduate student housing has failed to win the backing of West End Civic Association, crucial to the developers moving forward with the proposal.
“With the items identified as concerns to the neighborhood, it was difficult to move ahead with a proposal like this,” Sibongile Magubane, the association’s president, said Wednesday.
Hartford lawyer Dwight H. Merriam and his partner, Garrett Heher, principal of Mercer Realty Partners in Essex, have proposed a $25 million plan to create graduate housing for the nearby UConn School of Law. The plans call for 115 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments in four new buildings — about 225 beds — that would be marketed to students at the law school and other graduate students in the area.
Merriam, who has said the development wouldn’t go forward without the neighborhood’s blessing, said he’s committed to addressing the concerns raised by the association.
“Yes, absolutely,” Merriam said Wednesday. “We have worked very hard with an outstanding team of consultants to come forward with a great plan for the very best use of the property.”
At the association’s board meeting Tuesday night, board members expressed concern that there were no firm plans for three, historic structures on the 10.5-acre campus, dating back to the 1930s. In addition, the board was troubled by a lack of detail on how the housing would be marketed to graduate students and, if demand was insufficient, whether the housing would be opened up to other potential tenants.
The scope of the project also was too large, creating the potential to worsen traffic congestion in the neighborhood that is already a problem, the board said.
Kurt Malec, a board member, said Wednesday he conducted a poll of property owners within the association’s boundaries, drawing nearly 200 responses. Of those, 76 percent were against the proposal, he said.
“The proposal would have gotten a much better reception if the historic buildings were addressed,” Malec said.
The buildings — Butterworth Hall is the largest — were all originally single-family houses. The developers had said two — the Johnson and Babcock houses — would be marketed as single-family houses but also could be converted to two- or three-unit condominiums. Butterworth could be donated to the law school as a conference center.
All three buildings are deteriorating and could cost millions to renovate. Dealing with the historic buildings, however, was proposed to come after the development of the student housing, which did not sit well with the board.
Heher said Wednesday the partners had earlier considered dividing the former homes into market-rate housing and that plan could be resurrected.
The UConn School of Law officials saw the addition of graduate student housing on the property — between Asylum Avenue and Elizabeth Street and near the law school campus — as a path to raising the school’s profile. The housing could be a recruiting tool to attract more students from farther away, especially international students. Currently, out-of-state students must find their own housing.
“I’m disappointed because the project held great promise for our students in the future,” said Timothy S. Fisher, the law school’s dean, who has often described the campus as a “commuter” school. “It would have helped us build a deeper community here.”
Part of the neighborhood’s concern about the number of beds comes from the fact that UConn believes, at least initially, it can fill about 110 beds out of 225, leaving uncertain who would rent the rest. Malec said a “master lease” for the 110 would make the association more comfortable that the majority of tenants would indeed be UConn graduate students.
Merriam said he would have those discussions with Fisher; but Fisher said Wednesday he didn’t see that as an option.
It could be difficult to shrink the project because the number of beds was needed to make the development financially feasible.
Any proposal would still need formal city approvals, including the possibility of 7-year tax abatement.
The property is owned by the University of Hartford and the developers have had an option for two years to buy it.
Magubane said the board is open to a revised proposal from the developers — or other proposals for the property.
“Everyone is hopeful something will happen with the site,” Magubane said.
