The Most Important Threatened Historic Places -- Updates
Downtown Torrington
(2006). Nearly eight years after Farmington developer Jed
Hayes called for demolishing several historic buildings on Water Street to bring in big-box stores,
the city is working on a downtown redevelopment new plan that is much more
preservation-friendly. Hayes withdrew after an economic impact study concluded
that the town wouldn’t be able to support all the retail that he proposed.
The new plan, by Cheshire-based
consultants Milone & MacBroom, focuses on areas other than Water Street. At the
southern end of downtown, Torrington
Plaza, a suburban-style
shopping center built in the 1960s, would be demolished. Currently a wide U of
buildings around a sprawling parking lot, it would be replaced with mixed-use buildings
along a traditional streetscape.
The plan
also calls for making Main Street
one-way, with a new parallel street to the east. One contributing structure in
the Downtown Torrington National Register district would be demolished. A concrete
storefront built in the 1930s, it belongs to a burst of Moderne construction in
Torrington
during that period, but is not one of the city’s more noteworthy examples of
the style.
On Water Street, another
National Register district, the plan calls for incremental redevelopment of all
existing buildings along with new infill construction, in line with schematic
plans created by architect Patrick Pinnell for the Torrington Preservation
Trust in 2002.
“The new
plan makes a lot of sense, correcting problems that have been around since the
1960s, like the shopping center,” said Mark McEachern of the Preservation
Trust. “On the whole it’s a huge improvement.” A public information session
held in January elicited enthusiastic comments from the
public, although some residents expressed concerns about the one-way traffic. Milone
& MacBroom is revising its plan based on public comment. More hearings on a
final plan, which will eventually be adopted as a city ordinance, will take
place by April.
