A remote, largely overlooked section of the riverfront could soon become one of the more densely developed sections of Thompsonville with potentially more than 300 new apartments in two mid-rise buildings.
A developer this summer got the town of Enfield’s go-ahead to build 156 apartments on a narrow road just north of the Donald Barnes boat launch on the Connecticut River, and a different development partnership this week will present plans for another 160 slightly south of there.
Taken together, the proposals would signal the biggest residential initiative since the massive renovation of the empty Bigelow-Hartford carpet mill in 1988 created more than 450 apartments in Enfield’s Thompsonville section. The complex, now known as Bigelow Commons, is just west of where developers plan the new waterfront apartments.
Enfield has long worked to bring prosperity to Thompsonville, a section of town that fell into blight and poverty after heavy industry moved out. With the prospect of a new Thompsonville station for the Hartford Line commuter rail system, local leaders have stepped up their campaign to promote density and transit-oriented development nearby.
The riverfront is seen as a rich opportunity for revitalization, but carries challenges: There is only a thin stretch of developable land between the Connecticut River shoreline and the Amtrak line. From Route 190 down to Bridge Lane, for instance, there is nothing but a narrow line of trees without space for a road let alone buildings.
North of Route 190, though, River Street — barely a two-lane road, and without street lights — cuts between the riverfront and the railroad tracks. It is called South River Street below Main Street; on the other side, it becomes North River Street for less than a half mile before simply fading out as the space between the tracks and river narrows again.
It’s near the Main Street connection that developers want to build.
In the summer, town zoning officials approved the first project, which is planned on a nearly 4-acre abandoned North River Street property where the mill’s power plant once stood. The proposal is for a long four-story building fronting the river, with a new public river walk running along the shoreline. The site along North River Street would get a 175-space parking field on the east and west sides of the street.
The four-story building would feature a brick-and-panels facade with large windows designed to look a bit like a historic mill, according to architects for the developers, Honeycomb Real Estate Partners and Grava Partners. Grava recently completed the first phase of Founders Square, a 120-apartment mixed-use building in the center of Windsor.
Gregory Vaca, head of Grava, told the town this summer that the project does more than add housing or clean up a vacant industrial property.
“This is a contaminated, abandoned site on one of the most beautiful stretches of the Connecticut River in the state. It’s a place where the public has no access, it’s a place that’s almost invisible to Thompsonville,” Vaca said.
“I want people to think about what Thompsonville and this section will look like after this development,” he said. “We’re talking about a remediated site, a new North River Street that’s lit and safe and wide.”
Four months after commissioners approved that project, they’ll hear details Thursday evening on a relatively similar one proposed less than a quarter-mile south along South River Street. Developer Richard Pinkman has acquired several small houses along the river, and proposes to replace them with a five-story building containing 160 apartments.
His Longmeadow, MA-based South River Realty has created a website for the project, but offers few details so far.
It says the company envisions that area as “a modern, mixed-use neighborhood featuring thoughtfully planned spaces that complement the riverfront setting.”