Why Windsor Is Turning Empty Offices Into Apartments

WINDSOR, CT — Windsor is increasingly looking to apartments as a way to bring aging and largely empty office buildings back to life.

Several conversions are now underway or have received town approval, particularly around Day Hill Road and Waterside Crossing. The shift is not accidental: town officials say remote work has weakened the office market, reduced property values and cut into Windsor's tax base.

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Economic Development Director Patrick McMahon told the Town Council last year that the Day Hill Corporate Area had an office vacancy rate of about 31 percent. Roughly 60 percent of its office space was being marketed for lease or sale.

Those vacancies contributed to a more than $2 million reduction in annual tax revenue following the town's property revaluation, according to official Town Council minutes.

The town's response has included new zoning rules allowing office buildings to be converted into housing, along with consideration of tax incentives for projects that otherwise might not be financially possible.

As Patch previously reported, officials believe the projects could eventually increase Windsor's grand list, provide additional housing and return properties that are losing value to productive use.

Windsor's Day Hill planning study also found stronger demand for multifamily housing than for traditional office space. Town officials have said the goal is not to eliminate the corridor's commercial base, but to introduce housing and other uses that could support nearby restaurants, shops and employers.

"Changes in how and where people work" have created a need to reconsider how the area should develop, the town said in its Day Hill Corporate Area Planning Study. The study calls for a mix of housing, commercial development and the reuse of underused offices.

Conversion Projects Moving Forward

The major office-conversion projects approved or advancing in Windsor include:

• 1 and 3 Waterside Crossing: Brady Sullivan Properties is converting the two office buildings into a combined 171 apartments. Town records indicated interior demolition was underway by May.
• 4 and 8 Griffin Road North: Two more office buildings have been approved for conversion into 96 apartments. Plans include 48 units in each building and connections to the amenities being developed at 1 and 3 Waterside Crossing.
• 7 Waterside Crossing: The Town Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the conversion of the roughly 80,500-square-foot office building into 57 apartments on Sept. 9. The project will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Patch first detailed the proposal in August.
• 500 Day Hill Road: The former Konica Minolta property has been approved for a 300-unit mixed-use redevelopment. Plans call for converting the existing office building and constructing additional apartment buildings, along with commercial space.

Those projects are centered on office reuse and collectively include more than 600 proposed apartments, although the 500 Day Hill Road development also involves new construction.

Windsor is also seeing other types of buildings converted into housing. The former Residence Inn at 100 Dunfey Lane is being changed from 96 hotel rooms into 96 apartments, while the former hotel at 19 Maple Avenue has been approved for 27 smaller apartments.

The conversions are moving forward alongside conventional housing developments. On Sept. 9, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a separate 201-unit project at Targeting Centre, as Patch previously reported.

Town officials say each project will still be considered on its own merits, including its effect on traffic, schools and municipal services. Any tax-abatement agreement would also require approval from the Town Council.

Construction schedules have not been announced for several of the projects.

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