Report: An Historic Site Re-imagined For Young Professionals

MYSTIC, CT — One hundred and forty years ago, Quakers built the Whipple Home School in Quakertown, now Ledyard. It's a fascinating history. Not long after, in 1872, the school was moved not far down the road to Mystic and renamed the Oral School For the Deaf.

The buildings still stand on the 77-acre site, though have long been in need of renovation to preserve as a historical site. The location was known in the recent past as the Mystic Education Center, as anyone who's driven along Route 184 knows from the long-standing brown road sign.

Now, the 240 Oral School Road, Mystic, town of Groton site is said to be getting that makeover. And, as described in a report by The Day, it's slated to become a "mixed-use village designed for young professionals to 'live, work and play.'"

According to the report, developer Respler Homes LLCplans to re-imagine the site as a mixed-use "'commercial hub,' with co-working and high-tech R&D spaces and amenities such as an organic market, coffeehouse and restaurant, and constructing about 750 market-rate apartments on site." It's in a good spot: two miles from downtown Mystic, three minutes, give or take, to Interstate 95 and minutes away from northeast corridor Amtrak rail service.

The proposal for the redevelopment of the designated state surplus property, as reported, was announced at a public meeting Nov. 7.

In an Groton Economic and Community Development brochure on the Mystic Education Center it's noted the site was used for, among other things, town parks and rec offices, Special Olympics, and a child care center.

Located in the northeast corner of Groton, it's bordered on the south by single family homes and the Mystic River to the west with thick-wooded slopes north and west. There are four, two and three-story buildings on the site that sites approximately 160 feet above sea level and overlooks the river, the town document reads.

The project would provide what the developerJeff Respler was quoted as saying is much needed housing for Gen Z young professionals and EB employees, for example.

The project, which reportedly will boost the local economy with hundreds of jobs and generate more than $3 million in property taxes, will need myriad local and state approvals and just that process will take a year.

Read the full story from The Day here.