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December 17, 2021

Shake Shack to open at Evergreen Walk; 165 new apartments also planned for S. Windsor

Graphic | Charter Realty A rendering showing the Shake Shack at Evergreen Walk.
By Joseph Villanova, Journal Inquirer

The South Windsor Planning and Zoning Commission this week signed off on the addition of a Shake Shack at Evergreen Walk.

Meantime, the town is also considering a 165-unit apartment development at the mixed-use lifestyle center. 

The New York-based burger chain will open as a stand-alone restaurant. The nearest Shake Shake now is in West Hartford.

Karen Johnson of Charter Realty announced the fast-casual chain as the tenant for the proposed restaurant at Tuesday’s PZC meeting. Documents previously listed the tenant as a “national burger chain.”

An opening date and hours of operation for the Shake Shack are to be determined, but Johnson said that “they do not serve breakfast,” limiting the restaurant to lunch and dinner time.

PZC members voted unanimously to accept the application submitted by Charter Realty to construct a standalone 3,200-square-foot restaurant with a canopied outdoor seating area and a 30-car parking lot on a site at the north end of the shopping area off Buckland Road.

The restaurant will feature a pickup window, which Johnson said would operate differently from a drive-thru.

“Shake Shack’s menu does not lend itself to a traditional drive-thru concept,” Johnson said, due to the food taking longer to prepare than at a fast food restaurant.

Michele Lipe, director of planning, said the building would have artwork on an exterior wall, and that it would specifically not be an advertisement for the restaurant or any of its products.

The South Windsor PZC is also considering other proposed developments at Evergreen Walk, including possible new apartments, a school and a restaurant.

Two applications include changes to a plan of development to accommodate a proposed 165-unit expansion to the Tempo apartment complex at 50 Andrews Way.  A public hearing on the plan began Nov. 30.

The expansion would require an amendment to the Buckland Gateway Development Zone to allow for additional apartment units past the cap of 200, in addition to eliminating 90,950 square-feet of office use to allocate 60,000 square-feet for residential.

Additionally, in the current Buckland plan of development, there must be at least one square-foot of commercial use area for every two square-feet of residential use area.

Alan Lamson, vice president of FLB Architecture, said at the Nov. 30 meeting that the applicant would like to modify that criteria to include existing retail development as part of the ratio, namely the new Costco. The remaining developable area is not suited for additional retail, he said.

Maura Cochran, economic consultant with Bartram-Cochran, said at the Nov. 30 meeting that a feasibility study she conducted for the applicant showed that new apartment unit would generate a positive cash flow to the town.

Planning Director Michele Lipe said at the Nov. 30 meeting that the application lacks provisions for affordable housing. Town regulations require 10 percent of units in a multifamily residential development to be made affordable.

PZC member Stephanie Dexter said at the meeting that she’d be open to the development, particularly if 15 percent of the units were made affordable, as the existing Tempo apartments have none.

“I’m looking to approve and modify the general plan if there is an affordable housing development,” Dexter said.

PZC Chairman Bart Pacekonis said at the meeting that he agreed with Dexter on having 15 percent affordable units, but raised concerns with using an existing commercial development to offset new residential development.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Pacekonis said, adding that the PZC has suggested mixed use development, but the developers said it would be hard to market.

Another application to be discussed Tuesday includes a 12,670-square-foot education center, to be built in vacant storefronts next to Ted’s Montana Grill. Renovations to the building include an additional entrance with a canopy and a fenced outdoor playground.

The fourth Evergreen Walk application on the Tuesday agenda proposes a 3,200-square-foot restaurant, with an outdoor seating area and parking lot. The restaurant would be built as a standalone at the north end of the shopping area off Buckland Road, along the roundabout near the former Moe’s restaurant.

Charter Realty’s leasing plan lists the occupant as an unspecified national burger chain, and a representative for the developer has stated at an Inland Wetlands meeting that the building would not have a drive-thru window.

Another agenda item pertains to the purchase of 220 Scantic Road, a 17.9-acre property on the East Windsor border.

Town Council member Andrew Paterna said at a Nov. 16 meeting that the current owner, East Windsor non-profit Scout Hall Youth Center, offered to transfer the property to the town for $1.

Paterna said the organization’s conditions were that the town pick up about $2,000 in legal fees and that East Windsor residents are allowed to use the open space that would provide access to the river.

At the Nov. 16 meeting, Town Council voted unanimously to allow the town manager to sign and execute a purchase and sale agreement for the property.

This article appeared as two separate stories in the Journal Inquirer. It has been edited and combined as a single story to run in the Hartford Business Journal.

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