Electric Boat's Crystal Mall plan would add roundabouts, buffers and nearly 1,000 new trees

The Electric Boat redevelopment plan for Crystal Mall includes a substantial exterior overhaul that replaces inefficient pavement with organized circulation and a heavy planting regime intended to screen the campus from Route 85 and improve safety.

Landscape architect Chad Frost told the board the project would create new entry thresholds, add two-lane roundabouts sized for semi trucks, add sidewalks, and reorganize parking into end-cap islands and planted areas. "We were able to, within the confines of the parking area, able to remove about an acre and 0.5 of asphalt while at the same time still increasing about 200 parking spaces," Frost said, describing pavement removal and more efficient space use. He also said the planting plan calls for "roughly, 550 ish evergreen trees and about another 450 deciduous trees planned as part of this" to form a double-row evergreen buffer along Route 85.

Frost described species selection (arborvitae nigra called out) and noted procurement and availability concerns for several hundred trees; the team said plantings will receive temporary irrigation during establishment but no permanent irrigation system is planned. Lighting will be upgraded to LED full-cutoff fixtures, and designers said the roundabouts and narrowed lanes are intended to calm traffic and improve circulation for employees and service vehicles.