A developer interested in building 273 new apartments in Newington should include more first-floor retail businesses, town planners said after a recent informal presentation.
Tearing down the strip shopping plaza on Lowrey Place and replacing it with two modern, four-story apartment buildings wouldn’t provide space for the local merchants who operate there now, the town plan and zoning commission told architect Anthony Amenta, who presented the conceptual plan on behalf of the property owners.
In addition, some commissioners said the area should have some restaurants and stores as a way to make it feel more walkable.
“Having a mixed-use component is critical,” Commissioner Chris Miner told Amenta. “I personally am not overly in favor of just a straight high-density property or complex. We have almost 1,000 (new residential) units that are currently either approved or on their way to construction, so there are going to be considerable changes to the community.”
Other commission members agreed, saying that displaced stores would have nowhere in town to go because Newington has very few vacant storefronts.
“We don’t have a lot of space in our downtown to give up retail space and this would be giving up a tremendous amount,” Commissioners Stephen Woods said. “If you spend some time in Newington, particularly our downtown center, our storefronts are rented and they stay rented. There is a very small turnover and that is somewhat unique to a community our size.”
Amenta, president of Amenta Emma Architects in Hartford, approached the commission in January for what Newington calls a “pre-application” review: Developers show conceptual plans and outline their goals, and commissioners give their initial reaction. If the developer ultimately goes ahead and requests zoning permits, the pre-application talks aren’t part of the hearings or deliberations.
In his presentation, Amenta said the plan is to demolish the former Best Market building and the string of smaller retailers that extends out from its western wall. The 10-acre property is at Lowrey Place and Constance Leigh Drive, with a massive parking lot stretching along Lowrey.
Amenta’s proposal is to put up two buildings, one with 129 apartments and the other with 144.
“They literally are placed on the existing parking field and part of the shopping center, which will be demolished to make room for these structures,” he told the commission. “We’ve located the parking for the structures behind or to the south of the existing building.”
The complex would have 297 parking spaces, he said.
Amenta’s presentation didn’t include images of what the buildings would look like, but he submitted renderings and photos of projects that his company has done in West Hartford, New Canaan and elsewhere. In West Hartford, Amenta Emma Architects designed the 616 New Park apartment building that opened in 2018.
Amenities would include an outdoor pool, fitness rooms, common areas and more, he said.
The proposal is to have a total of 74 apartments on each of the second, third and fourth floor levels, and just 51 on the first floor to provide space for lobbies and amenity areas.
There would be 79 studio apartments, 141 one-bedroom units and 53 two-bedroom units. The company proposes to lease 80% or 217 apartments, at market rates. Of the remaining 56 units, half would be designated as affordable housing and half would be reserved for tenants 55 or older.
The Raitses family, owner of the property, said it operated Best Market in the plaza’s main 33,000-square-foot building for years, then sold the business in 2019. The new owner renamed it Local Market, but shut down during the pandemic a year later and never reopened.
The Raitses family said competition from major supermarkets along the Berlin Turnpike has eaten into the market share for smaller grocery stores in the area.
Commissioners appeared divided over whether they’d support a four-story building, with at least one saying he would if the first floor was used for retail. Another, though, argued that Newington is a smaller town where four-story buildings don’t fit in.
If Amenta decides to submit a formal application, it would go before the commission at a hearing.
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