West Hartford Town Council Approves High-End Steele Road Apartment Plan

After a long and often contentious public hearing, the West Hartford Town Council approved a plan early Wednesday morning to build a high-end 150-unit apartment complex at 243 Steele Road.

The council’s final vote took place at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the West Hartford News, after more than 60 residents signed up to speak at the public hearing that was scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The lone dissenting vote came from Democrat Harry Captain, who told the Hartford Courant that the size of the development would be more suited to a major thoroughfare, and the Steele Road area felt more like a neighborhood to him.

But Captain also told the Courant it was difficult to vote against the plan because the developer, Metro Realty Group President Geoffrey Sager, is “one of the best developers around, and it was very difficult to vote no because of the quality of this firm’s developments.”

The Courant reports that Sager presented a scaled-back plan and made other concessions based on some heated criticism from surrounding neighbors at an earlier public hearing.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant here.

The apartments will be built on the site of a vacant Mercyknoll convent, a 180,000 square-foot building that will be demolished to make way for a complex of apartments, garages, a clubhouse, and pool, according to the Courant.

Mercyknoll President and CEO, William J. Fiocchetta told the West Hartford News that the property is “a cash drain and a neighborhood eyesore.”

The project, which includes a $2 million asbestos abatement plan, will “draw empty nesters and seniors, protecting and strengthening the Mercy Community,” according to the West Hartford News.

Read more at the West Hartford News here.

Photo credit: West Hartford News