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New London – A developer who came up with the idea of ​​a hotel and conference center on the Fort Trumbull peninsula two years ago is back with bigger plans.
Optimus Senior Living, based in Southampton, Massachusetts, is exploring the idea of ​​a project that will include an extended stay hotel and a 104-unit complex spanning three development lots in Fort Trumbull.
Peter Davis, executive director of the Renaissance City Development Association, said Optimus originally proposed a hotel on the peninsula’s designated hotel lot, Parcel 1, but like other interested parties that have come and gone, Optimus has been shut down due to ongoing concerns about groundwater contamination .
Optimus has developed several large residential complexes for senior citizens, including Elmbrook Village, a 114 residential unit community for senior citizens in Bozrah. Optimus originally came to New London to consider a senior citizens’ housing development, but Davis said the state Department of Energy and Environment did not see this as an appropriate use of the land, which is in a flood plain. The floodplain is also cited as one of the reasons why the state has limited the number of housing units to 104.
Davis said he continues to work with Optimus and thinks he has found a solution to the kind of development Optimus wants to build. The result is a request to the city council to discontinue part of East Street, one of the streets that was built in Fort Trumbull, after it was cleared for development. A master plan was drawn up following the controversial Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v City of New London in 2005, in which the court ruled that local governments could take over private land for significant domains in the name of economic development.
The Optimus development would include lots 2A, 2B and 2C, which are adjacent to both US Coast Guard Station and Fort Trumbull State Park.
Davis said the proposed development spanned East Street, which is the reason for the upcoming city council vote. He believes Optimus is serious about his suggestion and estimates that to date it has spent more than $ 100,000 studying how his idea would fit.
Davis has been negotiating a development contract with Optimus since May and a design review workshop is planned for next week. He hopes to be able to present a contract by October, which can be presented to the RCDA board. If approved, the agreement would be submitted to the city council for approval at a later date.
“She’s been around three years now,” Davis said of Optimus. “The fact that they couldn’t advance the hotel and were willing to look at other locations speaks for their commitment.”
Davis said the idea of ​​an extended-stay hotel would suit everyone from visiting nurses to Electric Boat employees looking for short-term accommodation while they find an apartment. Long-stay hotels usually have things like laundry services and kitchenettes.
The city now has an architect on board and is ready to hire a civil engineer for the $ 30 million community recreation center. The city has designated parcels 3B and 3C for the community center.
Davis said he is trying to resolve the water pollution issue at Parcel 1 that has so far put off some potential developers.
“The problem is that a number of people including myself and the (RCDA board) assumed that all environmental issues were being considered,” he said. “What we discovered … is that the problems with the groundwater have not been fully resolved.”
A groundwater remediation plan would have to be included in every new project on plot 1. He said while many of the test wells on the parcel showed no signs of contamination, some of them closer to the water have a product made from heating oil that was leached into the ground by a former oil shop located there. Davis said his idea was to split the package in two, including a package that houses the New London Seafood commercial fishing operation.
Optimus’ plan, if carried out, would be the first project in decades on the Fort Trumbull peninsula. RJ Development + Advisors LLC broke ground for a 200-unit apartment complex on Howard Street and is claiming the first “out-of-the-ground†project in the community development area.
