The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is looking for developers to bring new life to the Seaside State Park project in Waterford.
DEEP is looking for a partner to help restore and reuse the historic structures already on site. Monday they got a look inside the former Seaside Sanatorium that has sat vacant for at least two decades.
The Seaside property was originally a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients, then served as senior housing and a group home before closing in 1996. In 2014 Gov. Dannel Malloy made the property a state park, the first new one along the Long Island Sound in more than 50 years.
The buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. The original architect, Cass Gilbert, also designed national landmarks such as the Woolworth building in New York City.
“We’ve had interest in this property for a long time,” said Chris Walker, president of Resort Realty in Madison.
Walker said he’s had is eye on the site for 10 to 15 years. He plans include restoring the site to become tourism-driven property that would be hotel and other use and bring in local, national and international demographics.
“When you have residential development, like you do mostly in Connecticut on the shoreline, it really cuts off all the public access and we just feel like something that’s resort-use is the best use for the state,” Walker said.
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DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee told NBC Connecticut in March that the plan is to increase public access to the Long Island Sound. The agency is looking to create lodging, dining, a spa and other amenities using the more than 107,000 gross square feet of buildings available.
DEEP said the master plan for the property “envisions a public-private partnership resulting a 60 to 100 room boutique hotel.”
“The buildings are incredible. Obviously they need some TLC,” Michael Baker International Senior Architect Steven Iovanna. The firm is based in Rocky Hill.
Along with coming to scope out the property, Iovanna came to meet the players. He wants to team up with a developer and/or contractor and other design professionals to design the site. He already knows there’s some challenges.
“There’s environmental issues, and deterioration and historic restoration is a science sometimes,” Iovanna said.
The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation has been working to get the word out about the project. Staff wants to be able to work with possible developers and assist them with historic preservation tax credits and any grants or resources that could be available to them, said Co-Director Jane Montanaro.
“Our main goal is to see (the buildings) maintained, used and people appreciate them,” said Deputy Director Christopher Wigren.
The deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, July 27. For more information, visit the DEEP website by clicking here.
