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Design Review Board endorses Electric Boat's Crystal Mall adaptive reuse, including major landscaping and circulation changes
Summary
The board approved Electric Boat's adaptive-reuse plans for Crystal Mall at 850 Hartford Turnpike, endorsing interior conversions for workforce development, two new roundabouts, an extensive evergreen buffer along Route 85, and a planting program calling for roughly 1,000 new trees while retaining restaurants on site.
The Waterford Design Review Board voted Feb. 24 to accept plans from General Dynamics Electric Boat to adaptively reuse Crystal Mall at 850 Hartford Turnpike, endorsing substantial exterior and circulation changes and interior conversions that prioritize workforce development. The board's acceptance memorializes design review guidance and forwards the plans toward required zoning/public review.
John Casey of Robinson & Cole, representing Electric Boat, said the project transforms an underused shopping center into a campus for training, research and development, noting that the Sears building will become a workforce development facility. "One of the assets in this whole plan is the Sears Building that is gonna be our workforce development, school that we're building out," said Jim Waldron, who manages real estate development for Electric Boat.
Key site changes proposed: the project keeps the existing building footprints (no new building construction) but makes significant changes to exterior circulation and landscaping. Landscape architect Chad Frost described roundabouts at several entrances sized to accommodate semi-trucks, a new two-row evergreen buffer along Route 85, reconfiguration of parking that removes about 1.5 acres of asphalt while increasing spaces by approximately 200, and a planting program calling for roughly 550 evergreens and 450 deciduous trees (about 1,000 new trees). Frost said the planting plan uses locally sourced stock where possible and includes temporary irrigation during the first one-to-two years but no permanent irrigation system.
Security, access and program layout: architects and project managers said the majority of changes are interior to support research, office and training uses but that five primary exterior entrances will be maintained and acted as controlled access points for security. Chris Boxall, FCA Architects, explained that some retail storefronts will be infilled or modified to be egress-only and monitored by EB Security, "we're trying to secure the site with these minimal main entries... they want majority of their staff and people come to the site to pass through those 5 so they can control all access to it." The team also proposed smaller ground-based entry signs (roughly 400 square feet total) to replace prior taller plaza signs.
Traffic and operations: the applicant added a third right-turn lane at a principal entrance (based on traffic-engineer analysis) to prevent backups into the nearby rotary and expects a staggered office arrival pattern rather than concentrated shift changes, with typical hours described as 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Electric Boat representatives said EB Security will provide on-site presence and monitor egress-only doors.
Vote and next steps: the board made and seconded a motion to accept the Crystal Mall plans as presented and approved it by voice vote. Acceptance records the design review recommendations; subsequent zoning approvals or special permits required by the town will proceed through the Planning & Zoning process.
Speakers quoted or referenced in this article are drawn from the meeting record and include John Casey (Robinson & Cole), Jim Waldron (Electric Boat), Kyle Hobert (CLA Engineers), Chris Boxall (FCA Architects), Chad Frost (Kent Frost Landscape Architecture) and town board members.
