Plans for a 22,500-sq.-ft. medical office building in Madison, Conn., face hurdles despite approval. Safety concerns and tenant issues have stalled the Hammonasset Medical Center project, with officials and CTDOT still needing to sign off on final permits. Horton Group's project aims to address the lack of medical space in the area, but delays have pushed back the completion timeline.
A vacant lot at the corner of New Road and Duck Hole Road in Madison, Conn., may be transformed into a 22,500-sq.-ft. medical office building, according to plans approved by the town's Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) on July 18.
But the Hammonasset Medical Center project still has more hurdles to clear, CT Insider noted on July 29.
Developers have put the project on hold for now as they look to replace a major tenant that backed out.
Additionally, Madison's police chief told CT Insider that the intersection has "safety issues" and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), as well as local officials, may have to sign off on the final permits for the project.
The original blueprints called for Guilford, Conn.'s Horton Group LLC to construct a 30,000-sq.-ft. building, at which time there were serious talks with one tenant. Matt Horton, the company's vice president of acquisitions, noted that those plans have since changed.
"We really won't pull any permits until we have at least a majority of the building pre-leased, or tenants committed to taking space upon construction completion," he said in an email response to CT Insider.
In July 2019, Horton Group purchased 155 New Road, a 3-acre lot on the south side of New Road, in addition to an 8-acre vacant parcel on the northside, for $1.1 million.
Along with an application for a planned development district (PDD) at the site, a traffic study, done by SLR International Corp. in 2022, was included in the presentation to the Madison PZC. The study concluded that although the intersection was problematic, the medical facility would have "little impact" on traffic there.
Crash data from the town was not available to CT Insider at press time, but Madison Police Chief Jack Drumm said the corridor is a "high-impact area for accidents," and the SLR study seemed to concur on that point.
A total of 36 crashes were reported within the study area during the period between Jan. 1, 2019, and July 15, 2022, the SLR noted, 18 of which occurred at the intersection of the state-owned Hammonasset Connector at New Road and Duck Hole Road.
"The high proportion of collisions at the intersection of [Connecticut Highway] 450 at New Road/Duck Hole Road indicates there are safety issues at the intersection," the study continued.
In speaking to CT Insider, Drumm expressed his worries about the increase in vehicles at the intersection.
"This is going to take a lot of review from not only local authorities, but the [CTDOT]," he said.
The areas of concern addressed in the SLR study included crash data, existing traffic volume, site-generated traffic, future traffic volumes and intersection capacity analysis.
But, pertaining to the medical office building, the study concluded that, "Analysis of the new traffic that is estimated to be added from the proposed Phase 1 development finds that it will be accommodated with little impact."
"There's a lot of moving parts at that intersection, from the eastern side and the western side," Drumm explained. "It's inclusive of traffic that's entering and exiting from the highway feed."
He said it is "not uncommon" to have 5,000 to 7,000 cars exit the highway ramp both north and south on any given summer day.
"These are all major factors that will affect traffic flows through that area," added Drumm. "So, we have to be very careful and make sure we get it right."
Medical Center Site Offers Many Advantages
Kenny Horton, president of Horton Group, sold the northside parcel for $2.3 million to Ron Degennaro of Degennaro Development & Construction in February. The PZC approved plans for the project's 45 residential units later that month.
Many factors went into Horton's decision to build the Hammonasset Medical Center on the southside lot.
Among them were "quick highway access, great visibility from both the interstate and the Hammonasset Connector, proximity to patients and rooftops, as well as the lack of good quality ‘Class-A' medical buildings along the shoreline, and the fact there is virtually no leasing availability in those ‘Class-A' buildings," Horton said in an email to CT Insider.
In addition, Horton Group has heard from medical providers in the area "looking for space and there's nothing built," he wrote.
In particular, Horton said that other eastern New Haven County shoreline towns, like Madison, also lack "good quality medical space."
The Hammonasset Medical Center is the first Madison project for the Horton Group. The company's projects in nearby Guilford include The Residences at 66 High Street, and an office/medical building at 350 Goose Lane.
At the time the medical center plans were submitted to the Madison town officials — when there was only one tenant expected to move in — it was anticipated the building would be ready for occupancy in 2025. But after the original tenant backed out, project designers returned to the drawing board.
Horton said that the most likely scenario is to have between one and four tenants in total, but "the building can accommodate either a single tenant on both floors or between one and four tenants per floor, for a total of eight tenants in the building."
The medical facility will be two stories high, with 11,250 sq. ft. on each floor. Plans call for an oversized elevator to accommodate stretchers.
Additionally, the facility's exterior will include a covered canopy patient drop-off, a picnic area with tables, a bike rack and up to four electric vehicle charging stations. A total of 115 parking spaces will be paved as well as a separate 12-space parking lot reserved for physicians.
The design and building team for the Hammonasset Medical Center project is made up of several Connecticut professionals, including Guilford's Anderson Engineering & Surveying Associates; Killingworth's Harkin Engineering LLC; Madison's TEC Landscape Design Inc.; and Milford's John A. Wicko Architect LLC.
"We certainly are extremely excited," said Horton. "We think this is a phenomenal site for where it is off the highway."
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