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Village on Bantam Lake, LLC:
The story-book villages found in Connecticut's northwest hills have long been a fascination of visitors and second homeowners.
A rare opportunity now exists between New York City and Boston to develop an important lakeside resort to be called Village on Bantam Lake, LLC in one of Connecticut's premier resort destinations - BANTAM LAKE (Connecticut's largest natural lake), a tourism and second-home paradise in the celebrated Litchfield Hills, a favorite vacation spot for many, especially from New York City - only two hours away.
The approximate 23 acre property, served by town sewers, can be developed by itself for many commercial uses with approximately 750,000 square feet of buildable floor area - as allowed by the Town of Morris Planning & Zoning Regulations (see Zoning Regs web page). Important: All this available square footage can be sold off to one or more investors as residential and/or business condominiums; a small entrepreneur can be part of a big splash! The 23 acres could serve as a "centerpiece" to a mixed-use lakeside village development which could include neighboring properties in the Lake Commercial District.
Another option is to sub-divide the 23 acres into lots for commercial or residential uses as small as 40,000 square feet each with 12,000 square feet of buildable floor area.
Bantam Lake is easy to get to, only minutes away from Route 8 and a short drive from I-84 in one direction and Route 7 in another. It is within commuting distance to all four corners of this compact state which has an excellent network of highways.
Seeking the unspoiled beauty and charm of America's earlier times, visitors from Connecticut's more hurried and growing areas have made Litchfield and Morris a vacation mecca for their day-trip pleasures.
A Great Central Park Setting:
BANTAM LAKE, a great asset for recreation, is surrounded by a great Central Park Setting with thousands of acres of protected natural areas also providing a wealth of recreational opportunities which include:
- WHITE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION, INC. (Connecticut's largest privately founded nature center) with its about 4,000 - 5,000 acres of natural habitats, owns 60 percent of the 8.5 miles of shoreline around Bantam Lake (see Maps web page).
- CAMP COLUMBIA, its nearly 600 acres of land recently purchased from Columbia University in New York City by the State of Connecticut for its present use as a park with waterfront advantages on the South Bay of Bantam Lake.
- THOUSANDS of additional acres protected from development in the surrounding resort towns of Litchfield and Morris (once known as the South Farms parish of Litchfield before 1859). True to its Currier and Ives image, Morris, where about 75% of Bantam Lake is located, has much of its 18.8 square miles of land area protected from future development.
Villages Around The Lake and Woods - an important tourism loop:
BANTAM LAKE - located in the very heart of the lucrative tourism industry of both Litchfield and Morris, is one of the important attractions located along the "Villages around the Lake and Woods" tourism loop (about 14 miles around) of country highways which link together to encircle Bantam Lake and the "Central Park Setting" around it. The two towns' high caliber tourist attractions and sites are primarily located along the loop, and those which are not along the loop are only minutes away from it.
In the future, the tourism loop of highways could include a reconfigured West Shore commercial hub for tourism - located along the "Villages Around the Lake and Woods" tourism loop in the vicinity of Beverly's Marina / Music Box and the former Deer Island Gate Restaurant property. As the centerpiece to a Lakeside Village resort development, the 22 acre property can offer the advantage of its large amount of buildable floor area (750,000 square feet) to be available for use in reconfiguring the Bantam Lake West Shore commercial area. See Tourism Map on Maps web page.
Barrier to Entry is High:
Since developable land around the lake, especially for commercial purposes, is scarce, the barrier to entry is high for resort development. Consequently, the opportunity now being offered to develop the 23 acre property as a centerpiece to a larger development can be viewed as a rare and highly prized business opportunity in the premier resort area of Litchfield County. The recent sale of Camp Columbia's 600 acres to the State of Connecticut has made this especially true, because, except for the West Shore opportunity offered by Village on Bantam Lake, LLC, Camp Columbia was expected by many to be "the" important future resort opportunity on Bantam Lake. A look at the "White Memorial Foundation, Inc. Guide Map" on the Maps web page shows the extremely limited development opportunities remaining on Bantam Lake.
As a Matter of Right, Many Commercial Uses to Choose From:
A long and varied list of commercial uses are permitted in the Lake Commercial District along Bantam Lake's West Shore - the only area around the lake which is zoned Lake Commercial and served by the town sewer lines (see Zoning web page for details).
The development of a mixed-use Lakeside Village resort would bring new vacation options for Bantam Lake (timeshare, condo/hotel, etc.), a commercial hub for tourism along Bantam Lake Road (Route 209) and a hotel / conference facility to take advantage of Bantam Lake as an easy location to commute to from surrounding urban areas.
Good news for this 23 acre property is that the Morris Town Plan of Conservation Development (Morris Plan) states objectives that are closely aligned with the Village on Bantam Lake project plan. The Morris Plan sites an aging trend in the population, including continued increases in the 55 and up community since 1970. The Morris Plan also sites a need to address the increasing cost of living in the Town as well as a need to allow for increased economic development consistent with the rural character of the Town. By creating an Active Adult / Over 55 housing community coupled with commercial activity along Bantam Lake's West Shore, Village on Bantam Lake, LLC is helping the Town of Morris achieve the objectives stated in the Morris Plan.
Master Plan:
A2 and T2 surveys have already been completed by Berkshire Engineering, LLC of Bantam, Connecticut. Architectural designs are being completed by Blue Moon Design, LLC of Terryville, Connecticut. A proposed Site Plan is being developed for submission to Morris Planning & Zoning Commission for review.
Investor Opportunities:
Village on Bantam Lake, LLC provides investors with the opportunity to invest in an entire development phase, building or individual business condominium. (See Investor Opportunities web page.)
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