Home Care In Westbrook, CT

The Westbrook Outlets could soon be demolished to make way for a roughly $425 million development mixing 595 apartments, 100 townhomes with a new hotel, restaurants and entertainment space less than a half-mile from the shoreline.

Prolific Hartford-based developer Lexington Partners is proposing redevelopment of the 49.7-acre property at 314 Flat Rock Place in Westbrook. That would require demolition of four 1995-vintage retail buildings totaling 257,115 square feet, and a cinema built in 1999.

“It will feel like a town center,” Lexington Partners President Chris Reilly said. “It will have a main boulevard with apartments over retail and a lot of open space.”

Lexington presented its basic concept for redeveloping the struggling retail center to Westbrook’s Zoning Commission on Monday. Reilly said the shops are currently about 25% occupied.

Lexington will partner with the existing property owner on the project. The property is managed by North Plainfield, New Jersey-based Levin Management. In 2017, the Westbrook Outlets property was sold for $37.4 million by Tanger to an undisclosed buyer.

The property lists T WESTBROOK CENTER LLC as its current owner. The LLC lists a Miami Beach, Florida business address. It's principal, another LLC, lists a New York address and is registered in Delaware.

“We are going to take the lead on it,” Reilly said. “They will retain majority ownership.”

Brighter future Lexington, which would get a minority ownership stake, had developed plans for 965,565 square feet of new apartment space in five buildings, some with ground-floor commercial space.

The buildings would include 30 studio apartments, 209 one-bedroom units, 306 two-bedroom dwellings and 50 three-bedroom units.

The plans also call for a pool partnered with a 14,400-square-foot amenity space, as well as a 1,000-seat amphitheater. There would also be 73,656 square feet of commercial space, most of which would be occupied by restaurants, Reilly said.

The goal is for construction to begin sometime in the first two quarters of 2025, but that will depend on obtaining local and state permits.

The project is getting a warm welcome in Westbrook, whose plan of conservation and development specifically identifies the flagging outlets as a priority redevelopment opportunity.

“What they are proposing to do falls almost exactly in line with what the property needs,” said Westbrook Town Planner Peter Gillespie. “(The Westbrook Outlets) really is, at present, being vastly underused, so this is a nice opportunity for that property to be redeveloped and see a brighter future for us. We are very excited about the possibility.”

The development largely conforms to the town’s “turnpike interchange zone,” Gillespie said, but there may be some zoning changes required. Plans call for buildings of about 60 feet in height, 10 feet higher than currently permitted.

The development might also require some relief from parking requirements, he said.

Locally, Lexington’s plan will also require a wetlands review.

Google Maps

At the state level, the project must pass reviews from the departments of Transportation and Energy and Environmental Protection to address traffic and other issues. Westbrook has public water supply but no public sewer, which has been an impediment to large-scale development.

‘Scale rarely seen’ Gillespie said Lexington first approached the town about 18 months ago, presenting a concept far grander than any development he can recall.

“There was a big ‘wow’ factor when they first presented the plan to us,” Gillespie said. “The scale of it was eye-opening. It’s a scale rarely seen.” Gillespie said Lexington Partners has a reputation as a quality developer of large-scale projects elsewhere in Connecticut. That includes the recently completed 292-unit redevelopment of the former Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery campus in West Hartford.

“We are very familiar with Lexington Partners and their projects throughout the state and their ability to do this,” Gillespie said. “That gives us great confidence.”

WESTBROOK – A Michigan-based maker of marijuana-infused drinks got an initial nod of approval Monday to open a manufacturing center in a mostly residential neighborhood.

Emerald Canning Partners and Boston-based Adams Avenue Asset Management received unanimous approval from the Westbrook Planning Commission to put a marijuana food and beverage manufacturer in the industrial building at 1244 Old Clinton Road.

The application still needs approval from the Zoning Commission.

Unlike a marijuana retail store on Boston Post Road that has drawn strong opposition from residents of the shoreline town, the proposal for a marijuana edibles manufacturer had a positive reception from the commission.

The applicant Drew Breuninger told the commission that the facility would only be used for manufacturing. There would be no retail, no customers and no cash on site, he said. And the new use of the building wouldn’t have an impact on the surrounding neighborhood, he said.

“If we didn’t have to be here [to get approval from the commission], no one would even know that we were there, to be honest,” Breuninger said. “Ultimately, that’s the safest and most secure. There’s not going to be signage. If we were just operating as a manufacturing facility for this intended use right now without going through public hearings, no one would know we existed.”

The one-story, more than 12,000-square-foot industrial building set along railroad tracks – just a short drive from Interstate 95 and Westbrook Center – is on a tree-lined street that is otherwise filled with single-family homes.

It currently houses a heating equipment supplier that commissioner Bill Neale, who said he lives nearby, said doesn’t disturb the neighborhood.

Neale said the property is industrial because it was a factory before zoning, and it was kept industrial as a pre-existing use despite being surrounded by a residential neighborhood.

“All around is all people’s houses, with their windows facing it,” Neale said.

He said the building’s occupants have always been good neighbors to the community, and Breuninger said they intended to do the same.

Emerald Canning Partners’ application says the facility will “not emit any cannabis odor.” The company will buy distilled marijuana oil from other producers and infuse that oil into its products. All of the plant compounds are removed during the oil extraction process, so the oil they use doesn’t have the distinct smell of marijuana flower, the application said.

The security plan in the application states that “some new lighting” will be installed to light the outside of the building and parking lot, a change Neale said was his main concern for the residents. The application also says the lighting has “glare protection” and wouldn’t interfere with neighboring properties.

State records show Emerald Canning Partners has a provisional license for marijuana food and beverage manufacturing, which it was awarded in the state’s general lottery last year.

Westbrook residents filled public hearings last year to oppose a marijuana retail store proposed for a mixed commercial and residential area on Boston Post Road. The Planning Commission was split 2-2 on the retail store, and didn’t find that it was consistent with the town’s development plan.

But the majority of the Zoning Commission agreed it met the town’s regulations and approved the retail store in January. Local residents have appealed that decision to Superior Court and petitioned the commission to ban any more marijuana stores in the mixed-use “NCD” zone that runs along Boston Post Road.

The manufacturing plan didn’t face the same scrutiny from the Planning Commission, which voted 4-0 to give its approval, finding that the proposal matches the town’s plans for development.

“If it’s quiet like it is now, everybody’s happy,” Neale said. “They come and go and nobody is disturbed.”

The proposal, which also includes a plan to expand the parking lot on the east side of the building to meet the town’s parking requirements, is scheduled for a public hearing with the Zoning Commission on May 22.

Brendan Crowley covers energy and the environment for CT Examiner. T: 860 598-0050

[email protected]

A Hartford-based developer is proposing joining forces with the French company that owns the Westbrook Outlets retail center and redeveloping it into a sprawling mixed use complex off of Interstate 95.

Representatives for Hartford-based Lexington Partners and officials with the outlet center went before the town's Zoning commission on Monday night to do a pre-application presentation of their plans. The $425 million project that is being proposed would include 595 apartments, 100 town homes, a 100-room hotel and 75,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants on the 49.7 acre property on Flat Rock Place, Town Planner Peter Gillespie said Tuesday.

Part of the redevelopment calls for the demolition of four retail buildings on the outlet center property.

Right now, the biggest hurdle for the project, according to Gillespie, is whether the developers will be able to get permission from state officials to build a community septic system to service the massive mixed-use development. The developers are currently meeting with officials of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in an effort to get one of the approvals they need.

More For You

Sam Ash closing all retail locations including White Plains and New Haven stores

Rue21 to close two Connecticut mall stores after bankruptcy filing

Exploding toilets and fake snow give CT students a look at unique insurance jobs

Haar: Eversource cuts $500 million in CT spending amid disputes with regulators

Christopher Reilly, Lexington Partners' president of property management, said the development of a community septic system "is something that is really daunting, a very complex process." He said work by experts the company has hired to address the feasibility of building the community septic system have been working about 18 months trying to figure out how to address the problem.

"We need a certain (capacity) level in order for this project to make sense for us," Reilly said. "We're going to spend millions of dollars to build and then operate a sewer system."

Westbrook is one of a number of shoreline communities that doesn't have public sewers and while the outlet center has a community septic system, Gillespie said it is not robust enough to accommodate the needs of the residential component that is being proposed for the site.

"Based on what they told us, the developers will spend the remainder of this year getting the necessary permits and approvals for the project," he said. "They told us construction would begin at some point during 2025."

Reilly said what types of retail will occupy the mixed-use complex are still a work in progress. He said given the amount of available retail space, the complex is unlikely to include a supermarket.

Gillespie said the zoning commission would need to approve several changes to existing zoning regulations in order for the project to move forward.

Outlet center giant Tanger Outlets sold the Westbrook retail center to a limited liability company, T Westbrook Center, for $40 million in May 2017, according to municipal records. Records filed with the Connecticut Secretary of State’s office at the time identified the principal of T Westbrook Center LLC as Hoche Partners Real Estate, which is a U.S. affiliate of a French company.

Officials with the New Jersey-based company that operates the outlet center, Levin Management, were not immediately available for comment.

Since the sale of the property, Gillespie said the level of tenants at Westbrook Outlets has declined steadily. The retail center has 290,000 square feet of space, but is only about 25 percent occupied, he said.

"It's one of our largest taxpayers and so there is concern about its future," he said of the retail center.

At the same time, Gillespie said, some people in town "are concerned about the impact that such a large mixed use project could have on a small town like ours in terms of traffic and other things."

Lexington Partners' expertise is in high-end apartments and town homes. Although the company's portfolio includes projects in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, the vast majority of its properties are in Connecticut, including five in Hartford, one in Old Saybrook and an 11-story office building near New Haven's Union Station.

Reilly said he envisions a broad mix of people living in the Westbrook mixed-use complex.

"Some of the people who will be living there are older people who have made their money and want to stay in the area," he said. "I also see teachers and other people who work in the community living there. And I think we'll also see people who like the shore lifestyle, but can work remotely most of the time and occasionally take the train into work because it is so close by."

WESTBROOK —– Will it stay, or will it go? That’s the question about the future of Westbrook Cinemas in light of recent plans for a $425 million redevelopment of Westbrook Outlets.

The theater is located on the east end of the shopping center.

Harold Blank, co-owner of the Westbrook Cinemas, does not know how the theater will fit in with the multi-million dollar mixed-use complex. Part of the redevelopment calls for the demolition of four retail buildings on the outlet center property.

“When we made a deal with the landlord it was a temporary deal,” Blank noted.

“It’s always been temporary, with the understanding that there’d be a redevelopment of the center,” he said.

Blank said there is no specific timeframe for the short-term lease, but “it’s in their favor, in the sense that if they needed me to go, I would go.”

The former 40,000-square-foot Marquee Cinemas, with 12 screens, opened in January last year as Westbrook Cinemas under the ownership of Blank and Bill Dougherty.

Blank said the theater is doing “fine” in the current location.

“It’s an older theater, it does not perform like the modern, stadium theaters, but it’s been fine,” he said.

“We’re happy there,” he said. “We’re playing all the first-run movies, actually adding in some art films since the New Haven theater has closed,” he said, referring to the former Criterion Cinemas in New Haven.

“I hope to see a theater remain in Westbrook,” he said. “It’s a good location, halfway between Saybrook and Branford.”

Blank and Dougherty are also owners of Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Madison Cinemas and All South County Luxury in South Kingston, RI.

Blank talked about the Madison theater, which was completely renovated after the team purchased it in late 2021 from longtime owner Arnold Gorlick.

“I’ve always wanted this theater to be a theater for the people of the town, everybody from a pure art lover to the young families,” he said.

“That’s what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re playing a mix of films, we’re doing the operas, we’re doing “Maestro,” these smart films that out there right now,” he said.

“We’re doing the best we can to play a mix so that the theater will survive long term,” he said. “I think that long term the theater has a life.”

In Westbrook, representatives for Hartford-based Lexington Partners and officials with the outlet center went before the town's Zoning Commission on Monday, Jan. 22 to do a pre-application presentation of their plans for the outlet.

The $425 million project would include 595 apartments, 100 town homes, a 100-room hotel and 75,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants on the 49.7 acre property on Flat Rock Place, according to Town Planner Peter Gillespie.

Outlet center giant Tanger Outlets sold the Westbrook retail center to a limited liability company, T Westbrook Center, for $40 million in May 2017, according to municipal records. Records filed with the Connecticut Secretary of State’s office at the time identified the principal of T Westbrook Center LLC as Hoche Partners Real Estate, which is a U.S. affiliate of a French company.

Since the sale of the property, Gillespie said the level of tenants at Westbrook Outlets has declined steadily. The retail center has 290,000-square-feet of space, but is only about 25 percent occupied, he said.

Blank said he will work to keep the theater where it currently is located.

“At some point I’m going to speak with the landlord, once they get things going, and we’ll go from there,” Blank said.

“I think it’s exciting for the developers to have a plan to fix the center,” he said. “I hope that we can be part of it.”

Luther Turmelle contributed to this article. Contact Sarah Page Kyrcz at [email protected].

[Vitals]

[They're Here]

[Reason to Cheer]

Roster size! The combination of Morgan, Old Saybrook and Westbrook gives the new co-op a healthy new outlook.

[Reason to Fear]

The teams went a combined 3-17 last season.

[The Bottom Line]

According to last season’s CIAC rosters, Morgan had 34 players and Old Saybrook/Westbrook had 29 and, facing the prospect of a continued decline in numbers (especially in Old Saybrook), the former rivals agreed to join forces in a new co-op, MSW.

The Shoreline schools are not strangers, of course. They were Thanksgiving rivals, with Morgan winning 11 of the last 19 matchups and, according to the Morgan School's student newspaper, the programs even got a jump start last year with a combined JV team.

Kevin Sullivan, Morgan's coach since 2021 and former Newington offensive coordinator, remained to lead the program. He coached the Huskies to the state playoffs in his first season, but was 3-7 last year. That was three wins more than Old Saybrook/Westbrook's 0-10 finish.

Sullivan is looking to mold the former rivals into a cohesive unit that improves upon both records, while creating a new football culture on the Shoreline. "We are working to bring the communities together and build a successful program that they can be proud of," he said. "We need to gel as a new team with half the team learning a new offense and defense. (I'm) looking forward to what the future holds as (a) co-op."

Morgan's Jack Nye is the co-op's top returning player. The senior receiver caught 63 passes for 925 yards and eight touchdowns from Tyler Baldwin, who also returns for his second season at quarterback.

Casey Corrigan returns for his third year as a starting running back as Morgan continues to build a ground game, Sullivan said. "It is our most experienced position on offense," the coach said. "(Corrigan) will be tasked with carrying the load for the offense."

Sullivan said he hopes his defense will be fast and physical after both team surrendered an average of 40 points per game last season.

Morgan will be the host school and a majority of the games will be played at the Peters Complex. The schedule will throw the new co-op right into the fire with, especially with games at H-K and Cromwell/Portland in the season's first month. The second half of the year could be even tougher. Since both schools were Thanksgiving rivals, the season will conclude Nov. 16 at VROL.

[2023 Schedule]

** Division game * Conference game