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Design board approves Electric Boat plan to repurpose Crystal Mall as training and R&D campus
Summary
The Waterford Design Review Board voted to accept Electric Boat/General Dynamics’ adaptive-reuse plans for Crystal Mall at 850 Hartford Turnpike, endorsing major landscape, circulation and screening changes aimed at converting the mall into a training, research and office campus while keeping several restaurant anchors.
The Design Review Board on Feb. 24 voted to accept General Dynamics/Electric Boat’s plan to repurpose the Crystal Mall at 850 Hartford Turnpike into a phased campus for workforce development, training, research and offices.
John Casey, counsel with Robinson & Cole, introduced the application and said Electric Boat proposes a change of use from retail-shopping center to business, educational and research uses that require a new special permit. "We're going to transform this underperforming mall into a real state-of-the-art center for Electric Boat," Casey said, noting the Sears building is planned to become the primary workforce-development campus.
Jim (manager of facilities and real estate for Electric Boat) told the board the project responds to Navy-driven schedule pressures and the need to train and cycle workers for the Columbia-class program. He described the plan as phased with a priority on workforce development: "One of the assets in this whole plan is the Sears building that is going to be our workforce development school," Jim said.
Project teams described mostly interior conversions to accommodate offices, classrooms, training spaces and accessory uses (conference, health and wellness support). Chris Boxall of FCA Architects said the mall’s largely windowless interior suits Electric Boat's security needs and noted life-safety and egress studies show the existing circulation meets current egress requirements for the proposed uses.
Exterior work will be significant: Kyle Hbert (CLA Engineers) and Chad Frost (landscape architect) described new entry thresholds, widened egress lanes, two multi-lane roundabouts sized for semi-truck access, a continuous evergreen buffer along Route 85, improved sidewalks, reconfigured parking and more end-cap planting islands. Frost said the team expects to remove about 1.5 acres of asphalt while increasing roughly 200 parking spaces by rearranging the lot more efficiently; the planting plan anticipates roughly 550 evergreen and 450 deciduous trees to screen and soften the site.
The team showed renderings of existing conditions and proposed views with new evergreen screening and roundabouts that largely obscure the former mall mass from Route 85. They said LED full-cutoff fixtures will replace older poles and that ground-based signs with EB branding (about 400 sq ft total across entrances) will replace the existing taller Crystal Mall pylon signs.
Security and access were addressed: the applicant said several former retail entrances will be infilled and the project will retain a limited set of primary entries (including the Sears workforce entrance) while keeping other doors as egress-only points monitored by EB security. The team also described temporary irrigation for new plantings (first one-to-two years) but no permanent irrigation system.
After discussion and board questions on parking counts, food-truck accommodations and traffic timing, the board moved and seconded a motion to accept the plans as presented. The motion carried by voice vote. The design review board’s recommendation will be part of the formal record when the Planning & Zoning Commission and other permitting authorities consider the special-permit/site-plan application.
The board then addressed correspondence (an ethics advisory opinion found no longer in force) and approved prior minutes before adjourning.
