Hamden's High Meadows site plans show more than 200 apartments and 64 condos

HAMDEN — Plans for the 50-acre High Meadows property on Hartford Turnpike have finally begun to take shape after years of debate over the future use of the long-vacant site.

Dakota Partners, Inc., Massachusetts-based developer, proposed to build 202 apartments, some of them affordable, and 68 condominiums while keeping about 22 acres of the property as open space.

Owned by the state, High Meadows once was home to a boys’ residential treatment center, which closed in 2009.

The state offered to sell the property to Hamden for $1.3 million. Instead of buying it, the town issued a request for proposals that carried an asking price of $1.5 million for the property, allowing Hamden to profit $200,000 from the sale. 

Officials said an advisory committee received applications from three developers and ultimately chose Dakota, whose proposal prioritized the preservation of open space – something residents had called for during community discussions. 

Dakota's proposed development would include four apartment buildings with a total of 161 market-rate rental units and 41 rental units that are affordable for people earning between 60 percent and 89 percent of the Area Median Income. Of the 202 apartments, 31 would be studios with six affordable; 93 would be one-bedroom with 20 affordable; 69 would be two-bedroom with 13 affordable; and seven would be three-bedroom with two affordable, plans show.

For fiscal year 2023, Hamden's AMI was $111,900, according to the Department of Housing & Urban Development's income limit database. 

The developer's plans, which still need to be approved by the Hamden Legislative Council and Planning and Zoning Commission, also call for 34 duplexes that would yield 68 for-sale condo units.

The complex would feature "significant common greenspace" with walking trails, as well as a swimming pool, fitness center, community room, pickle ball courts, a playground, fire pits and grills, the proposal states. Some of those amenities would be offered inside a new clubhouse included in the plans.

Some of the land that Dakota has pledged to preserve as open space could be transferred to the Hamden Land Conversation Trust, officials said.

The project would be built in three phases, the proposal states. Phase one, which includes the construction of the four apartment buildings, would cost about $67.7 million. The condos would be built in phases two and three, but Dakota did not say how much those efforts would cost.

Construction is expected to start in August 2025, according to a schedule posted on the Hamden Economic and Neighborhood Development's website.

The redevelopment, Dakota said, would complement the existing neighborhood while also building on the "growing need to create housing opportunities for all residents." The 41 affordable units likely would bring Hamden's affordable housing stock right around the state's goal of 10 percent for municipalities.

The housing complex, if approved, would generate "substantial" tax revenue for the town, boosting its grand list and revitalizing a parcel that has sat mostly vacant for 15 years, said Erik Johnson, Hamden's economic development director.

While some residents have expressed support for the project, others have raised concerns over the number of units being built and the effects the high density will have on traffic conditions on Hartford Turnpike, Johnson said. Dakota was not required to submit traffic studies as part of its pitch to the advisory committee. 

Some residents also have questioned whether the community will negatively affect town services or increase educational costs, according to Johnson.

Dakota has more than 1,400 completed units and a few thousand more in development or pre-development.

The company, based in Waltham, Mass., has spearheaded several development projects in Connecticut, including the historic Judd and Root Building in Hartford; Columbus Commons in downtown New Britain, home to 80 one- and two-bedroom apartments; Cedar Pointe, a $29.4 million apartment complex in Newington; and New Milford's Barton Commons, an apartment complex with affordable units.

This story has been updated to reflect the breakdown of units for the market-rate and affordable apartments.