1 King Place

Former Meriden Wallingford Hospital

USEPA Cleanup grant submitted November 2017-Awarded!  

City Commences Hazardous Building Materials Abatement-July 30, 2018

1 King Place is a key redevelopment site in the Meriden TOD District. One King Place is located within the City’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Zoning District. The site includes a 245,000 square foot building occupying two city blocks, a former parking garage, and land totaling 5.64 acres. The parcel is zoned TOD-Hanover, which allows for mixed use development and the adaptive reuse of historic structures.  The property is located in the State designated Enterprise Zone. The City acquired the property through tax foreclosure in 2014.

Site History

1 King Place, located in the southwestern quadrant of the Meriden city limits, had been used primarily as a hospital for nearly 100 years. Hospital operations ceased in the 1990s and the site has since remained mostly vacant. Prior to use as a hospital, 1 King Place had several uses including a bank, single-family homes, and a public school dating back to the late 1800s. Use as a hospital began on a portion of the site in the early 1900s and through the 1980s.   Following a merger with a private hospital in 1991, hospital operations at 1 King Place were moved to a new hospital facility in Meriden, now the Midstate Medical Center located on Lewis Avenue north of I-691. In 1998, the hospital owners sold the property and in just over a year, the new owner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Since that time, the property has sat mostly vacant and is in disrepair. The property was conveyed to Bradley Research Center, LLC in February 2004 and on January 7, 2014, the City of Meriden acquired the site through tax foreclosure.

The property, zoned TOD-Hanover subdistrict, is located within a highly residential area within the Meriden TOD District. An appraisal conducted on the property in September 2013 found the highest and best use to be a senior assisted residential community or an educational facility.   State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development funding has been used to assess and remove asbestos in selected areas of former hospital building.  Significant environmental hazards exist at the site and must be addressed as part of site redevelopment.  The City is planning to use a FY 2015 USEPA brownfield assessment grant to assist with site reuse planning and community engagement as part of the pre-development stage of the project. 

Prior environmental assessments and limited cleanup efforts reveal numerous environmental concerns at the site, including: underground storage tank (UST) systems; asbestos; lead; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); and miscellaneous waste (e.g., universal, solid, hazardous). Redevelopment of this brownfield property is a key priority to the city due to the blighting effect on the surrounding neighborhood and the potential public safety hazard the site poses.  A key goal of the City is to redevelop the site into a private, mixed use development comprised primarily of commercial, retail, office or light manufacturing uses.