Oct. 25–NORWICH — A New York developer has submitted plans to convert the granite and brick former Hale Mill in Yantic into a 151-room hotel with several amenities.
Mill Development LLC of Woodside, N.Y., which purchased the mill for $826,000 on June 1, submitted three sets of plans to the city Planning and Neighborhood Services Department for inland wetlands, site development and special permits needed for the project.
The plans call for converting the historical four-story, nearly 100,000-square-foot mill into a 151-room hotel with a swimming pool, fitness room, lounge with breakfast area, beauty salon and an 11,300-square-foot multipurpose venue.
The project needs approval first by the city's Inland Wetlands, Watercourses and Conservation Commission, which may decide to schedule a public hearing on the application, City Planner Deanna Rhodes said. If the wetlands commission grants approval, the project would move to the Commission on the City Plan, which must schedule a public hearing on the requested special permit, because the 5-acre property near the Yantic River is in a floodplain. The project needs a site development plan by the planning commission.
Rhodes said the wetlands commission will review the project at its Dec. 6 meeting and the planning commission could hold a public hearing either at the Dec. 18 meeting or in January.
Gadi Ben Hamo, co-owner of Mill Development LLC, said the development group does not yet have a brand affiliation for the hotel, named "Hale Mill Hotel" on the plans. But Hamo said the group is considering some "well-known" names and is awaiting approval of the permits before deciding.
Hamo said the group was attracted to the property for several reasons, including its proximity to the New London ferries for visitors to the region from the Hamptons in Long Island, the location near the region's two major casinos, the William W. Backus Hospital and other local attractions.
"And also, the building," Hamo said. "It's such a beautiful building."
The proposal is the second effort in the past two decades to convert the former mill, built in 1846, into a hotel. The Boston area-based Phoenix Development Group first launched plans to convert the mill into a 142-room full-service hotel in 1995.
That project met with financial difficulties, with on and off construction over the years until construction stopped for good in 2007 amid a bitter partnership dispute and complex mortgage foreclosure action. The mill failed to sell at two auctions in 2011 and was purchased the next year by a Harlem-based developer for $209,000. Eggoman LLC sold the property to Hamo in June.
Hamo said Thursday his hotel plan cannot use much of the previous construction — which included framed hotel rooms with bathrooms partially fitted out in some areas of the building — saying the work is not suitable to the new plan.
Mayor Peter Nystrom said Thursday that city and Norwich Public Utilities officials met with the hotel developer and assisted with the group's interest in purchasing the building. City officials met with the new owners and explained city utilities and city services.
Nystrom said NPU General Manager John Bilda "was instrumental in making that project go forward."
NPU spokesman Chris Riley said the Yantic Mill area currently has NPU electricity, water and sewer services, and NPU officials are working with the developer to determine if natural gas makes sense for their project.
"As always, NPU is supportive of any reasonable project, big or small, that will add to the tax base of Norwich," Riley said.
c.bessette@theday.com
